This movie was horrible and everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves for ever having been associated with it. Having said that, there were a few aspects of this movie that appealed to me, namely that there was a history behind the crowns. I saw this a few years ago, so some of my details may be a little off, but you'll get the idea of just how horrible this movie is.
The movie opens with J.T. Striker (Tony Anthony) approaching some old castle. We quickly learn that this castle is booby-trapped to the max and our hero has to dodge everything from darts and flying buzzards to ancient torture racks to reach his goal, which is the coffin of some long-dead king. Inside this coffin is his goal: a key. He collects the key and then escapes, as the entire castle starts to "come to life" and eventually explodes. Just where this explosion came from is a mystery.
Back to the world goes our hero to meet up with Ed, who takes him to a museum where they hand over the key to Prof. Montgomery. Montgomery and Ed tell the story of the crowns, which they key will unlock. They actually have one of the crowns in their possession. I found this to be the best part of the movie and the only true attempt at meaningful dialog.
Ed speaking, as the crown slides out of its container: "This is one of the Four Golden Crowns created by the Visigoths in the 6th Century some time after the conquest of Spain."
Prof. Montgomery: "Legend held that the gold balls on top three of the four crowns contained secrets to unleashing incredible powers of good and evil. After a time they passed into the fabric of myth and legend." Ed: Until sometime in the late 1800's when they were discovered (somewhere in Spain).
Prof. Montgomery: "But when the Arabs invaded Spain three of the four crowns disappeared. The fourth fell into the Arabs' hands and attempting to unlock its secrets without the key, they destroyed the gold ball. Three years ago I learned the location of the key, but saw no sense in retrieving it since the other crowns were missing until this crown, reportedly the one containing the scroll surfaced. I found it in the possession of a Sherpa mountain climber in Nepal and convinced him to sell it to me. And now, we shall see." The professor opens the crown and there is the scroll and now the enlist Striker to help them steal the remaining two crowns from a cult leader who uses them to control people (we are never told just how the crowns help him do this). Striker reluctantly agrees and assembles the team of Rick The Drunk, the dying old clown Socrates and his daughter Liz, and Ed.
The hapless crew infiltrates the secure room where the crowns are kept and are very close to getting them without incident, but then a piece of equipment that is supposed to knock out the security systems, fails to function and J.T. decides to go for it anyway. What follows is a comical collection of deaths by each of the participants (except Liz and J.T.). First, Socrates has a heart attack (we were told earlier he had a heart condition). Rick is killed by arrows that shoot up from the floor. Ed is at first crushed by the arms of this statue that the crowns are sitting on and then a snake comes out of the statue and bites him on the cheek (leaving no fang marks). Before the entire ridiculousness of this scene can even be comprehended, J.T. who has been blinded by some steam that shot out of the statue (and set off the alarms), regains his feet and opens the crowns (I guess all of the security mechanisms had been exhausted at this point). The crowns (the green one evil, the gold one good) make breathing noises at him. He takes them in his hands and his head spins around a la The Exorcist and then his face is divided between good and evil, with the evil side corresponding to the hand he is holding the green ball in and the good corresponding with the had he is holding the gold ball in.
Brother Jonas, the cult leader, has by this time burst into the room with his machine-gun toting, mask wearing followers and J.T. shoots fire out of the two crowns and kills them all. He snaps back out of it after they are all dead and he and Liz are lifted out of the room by the professor, but not before he throws the crowns into the fire.
There is a final scene which makes no sense. We see this blob rise out of a swamp and snake-like thing shoots out.
But I want to point out that there were THREE crowns shown in this movie. People seemed to forget about the one with the scroll.
O.K., that's basically the movie. The 3D was horrible. Strings are visible everywhere, much of the 3D was wasted on things that didn't need it, and nothing was really explained about how the crowns could help mankind, even though this why they were all risking their lives for them.
None of the characters were complicated or compelling. There was nothing that made you root for these guys to win. And the director seemed to just do whatever he wanted without thoughts to continuity or credibility. A shining example of this would be the fact that Striker escapes from the castle in the beginning by breaking through a stain-glass window that leads right outside. Why didn't he just go through that window in the first place instead of risking his life maneuvering through the booby-trapped castle?
Hope this saves you a few bucks.
The movie opens with J.T. Striker (Tony Anthony) approaching some old castle. We quickly learn that this castle is booby-trapped to the max and our hero has to dodge everything from darts and flying buzzards to ancient torture racks to reach his goal, which is the coffin of some long-dead king. Inside this coffin is his goal: a key. He collects the key and then escapes, as the entire castle starts to "come to life" and eventually explodes. Just where this explosion came from is a mystery.
Back to the world goes our hero to meet up with Ed, who takes him to a museum where they hand over the key to Prof. Montgomery. Montgomery and Ed tell the story of the crowns, which they key will unlock. They actually have one of the crowns in their possession. I found this to be the best part of the movie and the only true attempt at meaningful dialog.
Ed speaking, as the crown slides out of its container: "This is one of the Four Golden Crowns created by the Visigoths in the 6th Century some time after the conquest of Spain."
Prof. Montgomery: "Legend held that the gold balls on top three of the four crowns contained secrets to unleashing incredible powers of good and evil. After a time they passed into the fabric of myth and legend." Ed: Until sometime in the late 1800's when they were discovered (somewhere in Spain).
Prof. Montgomery: "But when the Arabs invaded Spain three of the four crowns disappeared. The fourth fell into the Arabs' hands and attempting to unlock its secrets without the key, they destroyed the gold ball. Three years ago I learned the location of the key, but saw no sense in retrieving it since the other crowns were missing until this crown, reportedly the one containing the scroll surfaced. I found it in the possession of a Sherpa mountain climber in Nepal and convinced him to sell it to me. And now, we shall see." The professor opens the crown and there is the scroll and now the enlist Striker to help them steal the remaining two crowns from a cult leader who uses them to control people (we are never told just how the crowns help him do this). Striker reluctantly agrees and assembles the team of Rick The Drunk, the dying old clown Socrates and his daughter Liz, and Ed.
The hapless crew infiltrates the secure room where the crowns are kept and are very close to getting them without incident, but then a piece of equipment that is supposed to knock out the security systems, fails to function and J.T. decides to go for it anyway. What follows is a comical collection of deaths by each of the participants (except Liz and J.T.). First, Socrates has a heart attack (we were told earlier he had a heart condition). Rick is killed by arrows that shoot up from the floor. Ed is at first crushed by the arms of this statue that the crowns are sitting on and then a snake comes out of the statue and bites him on the cheek (leaving no fang marks). Before the entire ridiculousness of this scene can even be comprehended, J.T. who has been blinded by some steam that shot out of the statue (and set off the alarms), regains his feet and opens the crowns (I guess all of the security mechanisms had been exhausted at this point). The crowns (the green one evil, the gold one good) make breathing noises at him. He takes them in his hands and his head spins around a la The Exorcist and then his face is divided between good and evil, with the evil side corresponding to the hand he is holding the green ball in and the good corresponding with the had he is holding the gold ball in.
Brother Jonas, the cult leader, has by this time burst into the room with his machine-gun toting, mask wearing followers and J.T. shoots fire out of the two crowns and kills them all. He snaps back out of it after they are all dead and he and Liz are lifted out of the room by the professor, but not before he throws the crowns into the fire.
There is a final scene which makes no sense. We see this blob rise out of a swamp and snake-like thing shoots out.
But I want to point out that there were THREE crowns shown in this movie. People seemed to forget about the one with the scroll.
O.K., that's basically the movie. The 3D was horrible. Strings are visible everywhere, much of the 3D was wasted on things that didn't need it, and nothing was really explained about how the crowns could help mankind, even though this why they were all risking their lives for them.
None of the characters were complicated or compelling. There was nothing that made you root for these guys to win. And the director seemed to just do whatever he wanted without thoughts to continuity or credibility. A shining example of this would be the fact that Striker escapes from the castle in the beginning by breaking through a stain-glass window that leads right outside. Why didn't he just go through that window in the first place instead of risking his life maneuvering through the booby-trapped castle?
Hope this saves you a few bucks.