I am a total sucker for adventure movies. I have watched all the best of them; Indiana Jones; Romancing the Stone; National Treasure; The Da Vinci Code; King Solomon's Mines; Jewel of the Nile. And now I have watched one of the poorest attempts at replicating them: El Dorado.
As it say's in my headline summary "El Dorado" is based on a very poor script where the "archaeology" plays an extremely small role. Because of that it seems that the director has decided on filling the very obvious plot holes with endless and pointless chases, shoot outs and ever changing hostage and blackmail situations. The problem is that no matter what happens and how many twists are used to try to confuse or shock the viewer we always know what is going to happen long before it does and all of the smoke, screens and mirrors never really cover up the fact, that there really isn't much of a story to engage in.
These shortcomings are furthermore enhanced by the very poor acting displayed by the majority of the actors. Some of the minor supporting actors are actually quite good, but they just can't carry the weight of the rest of the cast and the very poor script.
Add to that the lacking of either skill or vision (possibly both) in the special effects/CGI section of the production crew. The CGI portions of the movie (especially the ending) are so bad, that most people would expect more from the graphics of a 10 year old, cheap PC game.
On top of all these shortcomings comes the ending of the movie which I will not reveal. I just want to say that it is bad. Very bad. In fact so bad and so badly thought through, that you can't help but wonder how (in actual history) the Incans could have possibly lost to the Spanish when they had such great powers on their side.
It seems to me that the best part of the movie is actually the stunts and chases which are rather imaginative and well performed, so if you like that, you might like the movie - it's actually the reason why I gave the movie 3 instead of just 1 star...
So just to sum it up, El Dorado is a very bad movie, based on a very bad script, with rather bad actors, containing very bad effects and CGI and with a very bad and unfulfilling ending.
As it say's in my headline summary "El Dorado" is based on a very poor script where the "archaeology" plays an extremely small role. Because of that it seems that the director has decided on filling the very obvious plot holes with endless and pointless chases, shoot outs and ever changing hostage and blackmail situations. The problem is that no matter what happens and how many twists are used to try to confuse or shock the viewer we always know what is going to happen long before it does and all of the smoke, screens and mirrors never really cover up the fact, that there really isn't much of a story to engage in.
These shortcomings are furthermore enhanced by the very poor acting displayed by the majority of the actors. Some of the minor supporting actors are actually quite good, but they just can't carry the weight of the rest of the cast and the very poor script.
Add to that the lacking of either skill or vision (possibly both) in the special effects/CGI section of the production crew. The CGI portions of the movie (especially the ending) are so bad, that most people would expect more from the graphics of a 10 year old, cheap PC game.
On top of all these shortcomings comes the ending of the movie which I will not reveal. I just want to say that it is bad. Very bad. In fact so bad and so badly thought through, that you can't help but wonder how (in actual history) the Incans could have possibly lost to the Spanish when they had such great powers on their side.
It seems to me that the best part of the movie is actually the stunts and chases which are rather imaginative and well performed, so if you like that, you might like the movie - it's actually the reason why I gave the movie 3 instead of just 1 star...
So just to sum it up, El Dorado is a very bad movie, based on a very bad script, with rather bad actors, containing very bad effects and CGI and with a very bad and unfulfilling ending.