Allen Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1987)

Plot Outline: Treasure hunter, Allan Quatermain returns, this time looking for his brother who went missing without a trace whilst searching for a lost white race in the deepest jungles of Africa.

The Review: After King Solomon's Mines sunk without a trace at the box office, it wasn't exactly a good idea to do another film. At least they got the two main actors back which always helps in a sequel. Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone are back and actually they are both much better than in their previous outing. Continuity is a key to success in sequels like this and with both characters already developed, it's like fitting on an old pair of slippers. You don't need to worry as much about developing the characters so the film can take off almost straight away. James Earl Jones co-stars as a big African guy who wields a kick-ass axe. He even said himself he only did this for the money and the chance to go to Africa for a while so you know what type of performance you're gonna get from Mr "Don't Call Me Darth" Earl Jones. But this about where the good points end. The special effects are quite bad and unrealistic and it's blatantly obvious that miniatures were used for some scenes. Other scenes rely on some really poor rear projection which wouldn't convince anyone. Despite an early onslaught of typical adventure film gimmicks (trap-door floors, aggressive tribes, obligatory river scenes, etc), the whole film just went downhill quickly when they met the lost white tribe. Even the finale with the siege on the lost tribe was poorly done and the editing was even worse. We also have the return of a decent musical score (despite sounding too much like the Indiana Jones theme) but this is put onto overkill and is practically played every minute during the action scenes. It may be ok the first time, but by the twentieth time you'll be sick of hearing it.

Final Verdict: Kids will probably enjoy Allen Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold because they don't know how bad it actually is and may be lured in by the cheap and effortless nature of the film. But for anyone else it just depends on whether or not you are desperate to see every adventure film made or catch some glimpses of Sharon Stone in pre-Basic Instinct days. I'd prefer to see her romping naked myself.

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