Blood, Sand and Gold (2017) Directed by Gaelan Connell
This of course hardly is the first ever Indiana Jones knockoff and also definitely far from the first low-budget genre attempt but at least it isn't the worst that's out there.
It's far from the best movie you'll ever see but as far as these low-budget type of genre attempts go this one at least is watchable. Well, for most part anyway. It still does plenty of silly and bad things but as a whole it manages to tell a story that is a very basic- but effective one as well.
It's a bit of a shame that it attempts to be a grand- and adventurous movie, while it in fact really isn't. It isn't offering enough excitement and entertainment as you would expect from a genre movie, which is mostly due to its characters and obviously its low-budget as well. Instead of featuring tons of exotic locations and exciting chase sequences it's being a very bland movie, with too little originality and things to entertain you in it. Really, where is the fun?
There isn't really a good McGuffin, so to speak and no real surprises or good villains either. Bigger problem however remains its lead man; Aaron Costa Ganis. He's lacking way too much charisma to be a good leading man and action hero. It just isn't any fun having to follow him around for 90 minutes, while he does absolutely nothing to make the viewers like- and sympathize with him.
Is it that hard to write some good dialog and think of some good characters and situations? It's as if the movie tried during post-production but as production came closer and things started to become more serious all came tumbling down, also due to some obvious budget restrictions. The ideas where there, just not the money- nor the right people to get to the job done.
Not the most successful genre attempt but still watchable enough, for most part.
5/10
Watch trailer
It's far from the best movie you'll ever see but as far as these low-budget type of genre attempts go this one at least is watchable. Well, for most part anyway. It still does plenty of silly and bad things but as a whole it manages to tell a story that is a very basic- but effective one as well.
It's a bit of a shame that it attempts to be a grand- and adventurous movie, while it in fact really isn't. It isn't offering enough excitement and entertainment as you would expect from a genre movie, which is mostly due to its characters and obviously its low-budget as well. Instead of featuring tons of exotic locations and exciting chase sequences it's being a very bland movie, with too little originality and things to entertain you in it. Really, where is the fun?
There isn't really a good McGuffin, so to speak and no real surprises or good villains either. Bigger problem however remains its lead man; Aaron Costa Ganis. He's lacking way too much charisma to be a good leading man and action hero. It just isn't any fun having to follow him around for 90 minutes, while he does absolutely nothing to make the viewers like- and sympathize with him.
Is it that hard to write some good dialog and think of some good characters and situations? It's as if the movie tried during post-production but as production came closer and things started to become more serious all came tumbling down, also due to some obvious budget restrictions. The ideas where there, just not the money- nor the right people to get to the job done.
Not the most successful genre attempt but still watchable enough, for most part.
5/10
Watch trailer
