Wednesday 27 May 2015

Jack Hunter and the Quest for Akhenaten's Tomb (2008)



At the end of the first Jack Hunter movie it was revealed (omg spoilers) that one of Jack's colleagues was actually a member of a secret international organisation dedicated to keeping ancient superweapon "The Star of Heaven" out of the wrong hands.

Quite why she recruits Jack to keep the second part of the Star safe, given that (a) this organisation seems to have massive resources, and (b) Hunter already let the bad guys get away with the first half, I couldn't say.  I mean, sure, he's the world's foremost expert in the language of the the Ugarit people who made the weapon, but he is also - not to mince words - something of an idiot.

Jack insists on being joined by his colleagues from the first film: wacky ethnic stereotype Tariq, and obvious love interest Nadia.  He's also going to be working with Dr Lena Halstrom, a new character introduced in this film.

(L-R) Tariq, Nadia, Lena


Naturally the verbal claws come out from the moment Nadia and Lena meet, especially since the latter has a history with Jack and a tendency to look at him like he's wrapped in bacon and seared to perfection.  And to be honest, while the whole "two women squabble over a man" deal is the kind of thing that makes me roll my eyes, Alaina Huffman plays the obviously-secretly-a-baddie Lena with such relish that it's actually pretty fun.  Because yes, shock, the new female character is a villain.

Note: it's not actually a shock.  She may as well be wearing a "Villains Rule OK!" badge.  The only one who can't see it is - of course - Jack.  I refer you to my earlier comments about him being something of an idiot.

Anyway, there's basically 90 minutes of chases and fight scenes, most of them executed tolerably well if without overmuch imagination, before the movie ends with a big fat "to be continued".  Which given that these films were originally aired back to back as a mini-series is probably not hugely surprising, but does tend to make it a little less than satisfying.


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