I loved (Romancing the Stone). I was quite amazed when I knew that it had a sequel. For a long time, I didn't come upon it at all (some channels hate it?!). It took me 13 years to get to watch it. And did I love it? Yes. But lesser than the first. So why is that?!
First of all, the script. Compare (Romancing..) to this one, and you'll know the difference between the Hollywood perfect script and the Hollywood draft. Simply, the first had more emotions; being like a romantic comedy about the opposite attract, more talk about the dreams; which makes the characters humans to be related to, before heroes to cheer on, more hard choices; there was a scene where the lead had to decide between a gem and a girl, and more twists; namely more heat. This one is only a fine skeleton for all of the above, however empty. Looking to the movie as a whole assures that it's not the matter of the action-with-more movie and its pure-action sequel, rather the memorable B movie and another B movie!
True after the jungles in the first, they went to the desert in this one, and after pursuing a gem, this time the gem is a man, but that was it concerning any "changing"! The movie is enjoyable but hyped. Everything runs very fast. In one scene, Joan is at a book signing engagement, meets Omar, a charming Arab ruler, he offers her the opportunity to live at his palace while she writes about him, she agrees, leaves Jack, and travels with Omar.. JUST LIKE THAT?! The characters don't think, they just do. There is no gag thrown in-between, or special emotional moment. And it lacks the surprises along the way. To say the least, it's tangible that the time spent in writing (The Jewel..) was less than the time spent in writing (Romancing..).
The title character, "The Jewel", it's extremely pathetic. Who is that guy anyway? Sometimes he's a very poor street magician, sometimes he's a man of miracles, and all the time he seems like A-one fool! And more than that, I was forced to believe that this fool was a religious leader and beloved icon??!! It mirrors dumb writing for sure, especially when he uses naive tricks to rescue Jack at one moment, while - at another - we discover that he can walk amongst fire with no harm whatsoever! Or maybe it's part of many Hollywood movies' dogma while dealing with Arabs; whereas they're pictured, eternally, as throng of idiots. Well, this round, the movie resorts to giving them a funky look sometimes to change the flavor of the pretty old idea though! Or maybe it's the way things work in a movie about American adventurous leads, where the American must be the cowboy, and the rest must be Red Indians!
Then, THE MUSIC! Jack Nitzsche produced electronic weak thing that doesn't live up to what it expresses of non-stop action and adventures. It's a major let-down which almost turned the movie into a cheap, hasty and cheesy TV episode. And take it from me, don't beat a dead horse by comparing the first's music, by Alan Silvestri, to this; it would sound like a comparison between Charles Chaplin and Tom Arnold!
The special effects took a lot from the movie's personality as something done by big production company. They, instead, fit a B movie from independent destitute company. The last walking in the fire scene is a clear example.
The 3 stars, Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito, aren't playing their roles inasmuch as playing at them, with not much of fun. The character of Omar Khalifa is none other than a handsome version of Muammar al-Gaddafi, see how the smallest details refer to him (the picture with the commander's white suit). At the time, Al-Gaddafi was a favorite laughingstock in the American movies. Albeit, the Nile doesn't flow in Libya.
The stars' glow, not glee, and the action sequences are the sole facts in this movie. Director Lewis Teague, who made many TV series, mastered a good comic book. He was as vigorous as Robert Zemeckis, the director of (Romancing the Stone), however with less saturated script and more speedy pace. I bet, with not much time between the 2 movies, they quickened the sequel. Overall, (The Jewel..) made money as huge as the first (rarely when a Michael Douglas production goes wrong). In any case, it works in terms of being flashy flash, and it shows the nature of the initial scripts in Hollywood, and the initial ideas at understanding other nations in the same city too!
First of all, the script. Compare (Romancing..) to this one, and you'll know the difference between the Hollywood perfect script and the Hollywood draft. Simply, the first had more emotions; being like a romantic comedy about the opposite attract, more talk about the dreams; which makes the characters humans to be related to, before heroes to cheer on, more hard choices; there was a scene where the lead had to decide between a gem and a girl, and more twists; namely more heat. This one is only a fine skeleton for all of the above, however empty. Looking to the movie as a whole assures that it's not the matter of the action-with-more movie and its pure-action sequel, rather the memorable B movie and another B movie!
True after the jungles in the first, they went to the desert in this one, and after pursuing a gem, this time the gem is a man, but that was it concerning any "changing"! The movie is enjoyable but hyped. Everything runs very fast. In one scene, Joan is at a book signing engagement, meets Omar, a charming Arab ruler, he offers her the opportunity to live at his palace while she writes about him, she agrees, leaves Jack, and travels with Omar.. JUST LIKE THAT?! The characters don't think, they just do. There is no gag thrown in-between, or special emotional moment. And it lacks the surprises along the way. To say the least, it's tangible that the time spent in writing (The Jewel..) was less than the time spent in writing (Romancing..).
The title character, "The Jewel", it's extremely pathetic. Who is that guy anyway? Sometimes he's a very poor street magician, sometimes he's a man of miracles, and all the time he seems like A-one fool! And more than that, I was forced to believe that this fool was a religious leader and beloved icon??!! It mirrors dumb writing for sure, especially when he uses naive tricks to rescue Jack at one moment, while - at another - we discover that he can walk amongst fire with no harm whatsoever! Or maybe it's part of many Hollywood movies' dogma while dealing with Arabs; whereas they're pictured, eternally, as throng of idiots. Well, this round, the movie resorts to giving them a funky look sometimes to change the flavor of the pretty old idea though! Or maybe it's the way things work in a movie about American adventurous leads, where the American must be the cowboy, and the rest must be Red Indians!
Then, THE MUSIC! Jack Nitzsche produced electronic weak thing that doesn't live up to what it expresses of non-stop action and adventures. It's a major let-down which almost turned the movie into a cheap, hasty and cheesy TV episode. And take it from me, don't beat a dead horse by comparing the first's music, by Alan Silvestri, to this; it would sound like a comparison between Charles Chaplin and Tom Arnold!
The special effects took a lot from the movie's personality as something done by big production company. They, instead, fit a B movie from independent destitute company. The last walking in the fire scene is a clear example.
The 3 stars, Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito, aren't playing their roles inasmuch as playing at them, with not much of fun. The character of Omar Khalifa is none other than a handsome version of Muammar al-Gaddafi, see how the smallest details refer to him (the picture with the commander's white suit). At the time, Al-Gaddafi was a favorite laughingstock in the American movies. Albeit, the Nile doesn't flow in Libya.
The stars' glow, not glee, and the action sequences are the sole facts in this movie. Director Lewis Teague, who made many TV series, mastered a good comic book. He was as vigorous as Robert Zemeckis, the director of (Romancing the Stone), however with less saturated script and more speedy pace. I bet, with not much time between the 2 movies, they quickened the sequel. Overall, (The Jewel..) made money as huge as the first (rarely when a Michael Douglas production goes wrong). In any case, it works in terms of being flashy flash, and it shows the nature of the initial scripts in Hollywood, and the initial ideas at understanding other nations in the same city too!