Prisoners of the Sun

I'm potty about Egypt movies so I couldn't resist this one especially if they have a little bit of monsters and a little bit of SF, which this seems to have both and how can you resist a movie with both Joss Ackland and John Rhys-Davies? But it's a free movie on Prime and as expected the plot is a bit weak, and aside from the two big name actors, well, while the others do a competent job certainly the writing for the dialogue is very weak; but hey it's free and you got a fast forward button so skip some of the corny dialogue and pseudo intrigue and it's not a bad free movie to watch. I suppose one more area to consider is real archaeology; here also the movie is a joke because among other things, a how many thousands of year old stone slab with cartouches blocks their entrance, and they're smashing it with a hammer? Obviously they have the Heinrich Schliemann Playbook, smash first ask questions later. Hey buddy maybe I could take a photo of that first you know and like publish it or something? Nah just smash it! Who cares what it says! Don't show it to your archaeology students but it's a lot of fun. Hey don't miss the hornets who happen to live in a dark totally sealed tomb and they've been there for how long? What's their food source? Wait while I whip out my handy-dandy flamethrower! It might work better with a mystery 3000 overlay audio.

Drawn in by the premise, appetite whetted by the opening sequences promising the possibility of a cool battle between aliens who had been here thousands of years ago and scrappy present-day humans for the domination of earth, I found myself taken ever deeper into a journey of ancient dangers, wondering mostly which character would die next and by what predictable means, although the millions of wasps was a novel idea. Too bad that death also killed any further expectation of something new in this well-traveled genre, as the wasps were duly conquered with flame-throwers that could easily have been used before the young soldier volunteered his life for the greater good of the mission. It was clear this crew of boundless treasure seekers was inept when they went in but this lowered expectations to nil. I was still waiting for the battle to ensue when eight shots were fired from a six-shooter, ending any such possibility. Only Emily Holmes as the clairvoyant Claire Becket who declares "I don't have a good feeling about this" (truer words have rarely been spoken) pulls off her role with some aplomb. David Charvet appears never to have left the set of Melrose Place and Carmen Chaplin almost pulls off the role of mistreated daughter descended from ancient princess but misfires, just like the romance between her and Charvet. John Rhys-Davis has, of course, been here before so he knew his lines but introduces nothing new to the role. This would have been a good sci-fi read as a short novel. Alas, books don't get funded these days, but less than optimal films do. Listen to Emily: don't go there.

We start from an 'ancient astronaut' theory. The 'Osiris' were (plural) a group of space faring aliens who wished to overtake Earth in ancient Egypt. A cunning pharaoh put them down and imprisoned them. He locked them beneath a pyramid. This includes an elusive key. Every 5000 years, the Osiris can contact home and get re-enforcements. That time is about up again. The key surfaces on the black market. Professors Masterton and Mendella seek to find the key and unlock the secrets. Peter Levitz gets the key first and frames Masterton for murder, so we have a good start in intrigue and conflict. Levitz is looking for treasure, Masterton is looking for knowledge, Adler replaces Mendella and does not seem up to the job at first. The ancient forces in the pyramid have their own motives. Sarah seems to have some destiny to fulfill. The pyramid is breached by Masterton's team, which is now swollen with local representatives and members of the military. The entrance is marked with a curse, and nearby within there are dangerous insects. That, of course, is not all, and more deaths occur. Even worse, they are soon sealed in the tomb. Adler and Rohit take point on finding the path for the group. They make their way to Princess Amanphur's tomb. At the bottom of this, they apply the key. Then the path goes on, and the real discoveries start. There is an active mummy 'guardian' in the tomb. Masterton has unannounced plans for his daughter. There are working alien artifacts deep in the tomb as the 5000 year cycle comes to an end. Will Masterton's intentions come into fruition, or will the masterstroke of the pharaoh 5000 years before hold sway? -----Scores----- Cinematography: 5/10 The camera work is rather nice. The related CGI was another matter; some was OK, but other parts were just poor. Sound: 6/10 Fairly good, but could have added more to the overall feeling of suspense or danger. Acting: 4/10 David Charvet (Baywatch) as a PhD? Give me a break! Carmen Chaplin was moderately good. Screenplay: 3/10 This was old, tired, recycled material with a layer of not impressive new CGI. The ending was abrupt, and the exposition of motivations was too slim.

Prisoners Of The Sun has Professor John Rhys-Davies astronomer organizing an expedition to Egypt to view from the pyramids or one specific pyramid a celestial event that only takes place every 5000 years or so. A perfect alignment of some stars. Since they're going in the tomb itself or will attempt same he's needing an archaeologist. The one he has in mind is Joss Ackland. But Ackland suffers a heart attack and he sends his young assistant David Charvet in his place. Reluctantly the rest agree to have him along. Others in this merry band are Gulshan Grower,, Michael Higgs, Nick Moran, and Mohamed Akszham and one of them killed for the privilege of going along. Prisoners Of The Sun borrows from several other sources including Indiana Jones and all the mummy films you can name going back to Boris Karloff. Any cliche you can think of is there. John Rhys-Davies must have been in competition for an award in overacting because he trundles and bellows his way through most of the scenes. He makes this whatever else it is, not dull. Still it's one lame movie for Mummies.

I remember a time, when I used to love movies like this. Low budget, weird characters, easy to follow, clear cut characters, who'd be either good or bad. It does feel like a throwback, but not in a good sense. Of course there have been worse movies and considering the budget this movie (probably) used, this is pretty decent. Still it would be too much to say, you have to watch this. Even as a party movie it doesn't really work. You have Mr. Davies in it though, who while still acts as if this is something important. Producers got their money worth there. Judging the other actors on this movie alone would be a bit unfair though. Sometimes you have to start small ...

I decided to watch this movie when I saw that John Rhys-Davies played in it. He is magnificent as always, the movie on the other hand not that much. To be fair is not that bad either, it could be worse. The whole Egyptian – Alien human race is tasteless and it is a story told too many times. Yeah I know what you'll think. The same thing stands for the mummies. But no it doesn't. Mummies are something classic, like zombies (sorry for that)! You can never have enough mummies, you always want more! So the story goes like this: an excavation takes place to locate an ancient pyramid. An eerie storm will solve some problems and bad man will play their role…! The problem with this movie is that the story is too long in the beginning, so they probably wanted to finish quickly and the story towards the end is told too fast. My biggest objection with this one is: WHERE ARE MY MUMMIES?????????????

Well this was a nice weekend afternoon sort of movie that was mostly well filmed, and written. The acting is all a bit over the top, but that would meet the style of the film. John Rhys-Davies is really the biggest surprise, I know he was in the Rings movies, but otherwise what we have seen of him in the last 10 years has mostly been images of him in rapid decline. However to my great surprise, the man looks as spry as he did in the long ago days of Sliders, and he is just as energetic in his acting as ever. I did Enjoy this movie over all, the plot had holes, and there was a bit to much of a rush to make the ending resolve that the lead up feels like it was almost wasted. The effects are mostly seamless, and for the fact that this does actually almost work is why I would recommend this movie to anyone who has an afternoon to kill. If you have not seen the Mummy movies though go watch them, or some old Allen Quartermain.

A multinational expedition discovers a lost city beneath a pyramid, where they must stop the reawakened gods of ancient Egypt from initiating the apocalypse. Despite a good cast, decent writers and all that, this is nothing special. I am not sure if it was a made-for-SyFy film, but that is exactly how it comes across. There is an interesting idea (however misguided) about Osiris actually being the Osiri people... I like that, even if it ignores how Egyptian is translated into English... But overall, this is rather blah and not really worth a viewing, or at least not a second viewing. Could have spent my time better.

In Egypt, Prof. Hayden Masterton (John Rhys-Davies) organizes an expedition to a pyramid to witness an event that takes place only once every 5000 years. But he needs to buy a key from a local dealer that will awaken aliens from outer space that are hidden inside the pyramid. However the treasure hunter Peter Levitz (Michael Higgs) kills the dealer with Masterton's walking stick and steals the key; then he blackmails Masterton to participate in the expedition. When the team breaks in the pyramid, they find deadly traps and only a few will survive and Masterton uses the blood of his own daughter to activate a system to awaken the aliens. Will Earth be doomed to an apocalypse? "Prisoners of the Sun" is a movie of action, adventure and horror with a lame and messy unoriginal story. It is funny to see Prof. Hayden Masterton preparing an expedition where a key is necessary but he will only buy it in the last minute. The plot and unpleasant characters are near ridiculous but the acting is reasonable despite the histrionic John Rhys-Davies performing the lead role. The special effects are decent but the disappointing conclusion is awful and this film deserves the IMDb User Rating. My vote is three. Title (Brazil): "O Despertar dos Deuses" ("The Awakening of the Gods")

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