The first film jettisoned logic from the start for the sake of laughs and it worked consistently: the film was hilarious. This film tries the same approach but it tries too hard to be both serious and funny, and it doesn't always work. The illogical use of technobabel doesn't always help build the story, and too often it seems as if the writers made stuff up as they wrote, includING jargon because they thought it sounded funny, cool, or impressive. Often it's merely silly, even ridiculous, and at times it's glaringly annoying: Sioux in Utah? Borrowing sorta Masonic symbology because it relates to King Solomon's Temple? King Solomon in Morocco? Serengetti animals and Bantu people in northern Kenya? Throw in the Queen of Sheba and vampires...you get the idea. Why not space aliens and the Loch Ness Monster?
Wyle is still fun, Bob Newhart is his typical deadpan humous self and Gabrielle Anwar is the obligatory very fetching babe. While the story is entertaining, it's absolutely preposterous and it didn't have to be that way. Whereas the first film balanced silly humor with action and witty banter, using technobabel to bridge the them all, this story offers no such bridge. Technobabel is employed seemingly just to impress a possibly clueless audience and or illicit laughs, which doesn't always happen. It doesn't always appear as if anyone making this film actually thought much about dialog. Oh yes, villains. There are some villains but they're much more cartoonish then film one.
In sum, the film is entertaining but nowhere nearly as sly and witty as the first film. Ms. Anwar isn't the straight foil to Wyle that Ms. Walgar was in Spear of Destiny and the villains aren't as threatening or believable. I still give it 5 to 6 stars being a decent sequel. I think it could have been a lot funnier!
Wyle is still fun, Bob Newhart is his typical deadpan humous self and Gabrielle Anwar is the obligatory very fetching babe. While the story is entertaining, it's absolutely preposterous and it didn't have to be that way. Whereas the first film balanced silly humor with action and witty banter, using technobabel to bridge the them all, this story offers no such bridge. Technobabel is employed seemingly just to impress a possibly clueless audience and or illicit laughs, which doesn't always happen. It doesn't always appear as if anyone making this film actually thought much about dialog. Oh yes, villains. There are some villains but they're much more cartoonish then film one.
In sum, the film is entertaining but nowhere nearly as sly and witty as the first film. Ms. Anwar isn't the straight foil to Wyle that Ms. Walgar was in Spear of Destiny and the villains aren't as threatening or believable. I still give it 5 to 6 stars being a decent sequel. I think it could have been a lot funnier!