Rating: C-
Dir: Roland Emmerich
Star: James Spader, Kurt Russell, Jaye Davidson, Carlos Lauchu
Emmerich, together with producer Devlin, would go on to greater success with Independence Day, before failing spectacularly with a certain large lizard. Which is appropriate, given their fondness for ‘dinosaur movies’ — undeniably epic in scale, yet severely challenged on the cerebral front. You can detect the seeds of their “intellect-free” cinema here, which manages to entertain, without requiring the slightest conscious thought from the audience. They clearly love the feel of science, but prefer to handwave wildly at it: the plot-critical idea about needing six points to fix a location in space is bunkum.
Best ignore this, and appreciate the nifty visuals: like all their films, it would work much better at the cinema. Spader is the Egyptologist called in to decipher squiggles on an artefact; doing so opens a gateway to somewhere else and leaves him struggling to communicate with people possessing silly hair-dos — not least, Army goon Russell. You may find yourself checking your watch as you await the next spectacular set-piece, but don’t worry, it won’t be long. Will Spader save the newly discovered world? Who cares?