Directed by J. Lee Thompson. Starring Chuck Norris, Louis Gossett Jr., Melody Anderson, John Rhys-Davies, Will Sampson, Sonny Landham, Ian Abercrombie, Richard Lee-Sung, Álvaro Carcaño. (PG)
Director Thompson pretty much just made two kinds of films in the 80s: grim, low-grade thrillers starring Charles Bronson, and Golan-Globus "high adventure" films that poach from Indiana Jones and "Romancing the Stone." This one firmly falls in the latter category, a low-budget cliff-yawner about a couple of goofy soldier-of-fortune-types (Norris and Gossett Jr.), described as being brave but not bright, joining bland blonde Anderson in a search for Aztec gold based on a vision she had. An inauspicious, derivative production, to say the least--a jungle adventure comedy where the most sustained action sequence in the film is a bar fight. Norris gets to try out his comic chops (his karate chops are far less embarrassing); Gossett Jr. coasts and cashes a paycheck. Lots of bickering banter, no excitement or invention; a real waste. Note: there are as many scenes of people walking on fire in this movie as there are trolls in "Troll 2".
20/100
Director Thompson pretty much just made two kinds of films in the 80s: grim, low-grade thrillers starring Charles Bronson, and Golan-Globus "high adventure" films that poach from Indiana Jones and "Romancing the Stone." This one firmly falls in the latter category, a low-budget cliff-yawner about a couple of goofy soldier-of-fortune-types (Norris and Gossett Jr.), described as being brave but not bright, joining bland blonde Anderson in a search for Aztec gold based on a vision she had. An inauspicious, derivative production, to say the least--a jungle adventure comedy where the most sustained action sequence in the film is a bar fight. Norris gets to try out his comic chops (his karate chops are far less embarrassing); Gossett Jr. coasts and cashes a paycheck. Lots of bickering banter, no excitement or invention; a real waste. Note: there are as many scenes of people walking on fire in this movie as there are trolls in "Troll 2".
20/100