The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb (2006)

Directed by: Russell Mulcahy | 170 minutes | adventure, fantasy, horror | Actors: Casper Van Dien, Leonor Varela, Jonathan Hyde, Steven Waddington, Malcolm McDowell, Simon Callow, Niko Nicotera, Tat Whalley, Patrick Toomey, Brendan Patricks, David Schofield, Parvin Dabas, Suvarchala Narayanan, Francisco Bosch, Robin Das, Rajesh Balwani

Danny Freemont has managed to find three pieces of the Emerald Tablet scattered around the world, but each time his find was taken from him a short time later by his scientific opponent Morgan Sinclair. Sinclair is backed by the Hellfire Council, a powerful organization of businessmen and aristocrats bent on conquering world domination through the use of black magic. They don’t shy away from any means, as Danny and his friends notice. The fourth and missing piece is essential to the tablet’s magical workings. The fourth piece must definitely stay out of the hands of Sinclair and his associates, because when the four pieces are put together, the tablet can establish a connection with the underworld. This connection can be a blessing to the world, but it can also mean the end of time.

Numerous fake maps are circulating among archaeologists that supposedly lead to Tutankhamun’s tomb, but Danny manages to get hold of the one and only map. With friends, he organizes an excavation on the basis of this and receives the indispensable help of the expert Dr. Azelia Barakat who, after much hesitation and reluctantly, has become convinced of Danny’s right regarding the location of Tutankhamun’s tomb and of the criminal Sinclair’s intentions.

‘The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb’ borrows from several movies. The fact that Danny only manages to keep his finds in his possession for a short time, because they are soon taken from him by an unscrupulous opponent, is just like his outfit borrowed directly from ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (1981). The beautiful, adventurous scientist who speaks Ancient Egyptian as if she has done so since birth is from ‘The Mummy’ (1999) and ‘The Mummy Returns’ (2001). The magical aspect of a connection to another world comes straight from ‘Stargate’ (1994). But it’s sympathetic stealing. The contradictions between Danny and Sinclair are brought out with little subtlety, such as the way their lectures go. Danny’s room is full of happy students and it’s light, Sinclair’s is dark and there are few students in the benches. Sinclair also wears gloomy clothes to make it extra thick and the picture about good and evil is complete. This film is therefore not about subtle character development or a representation of archeology as a science as faithfully as possible, but about speed and action, interspersed with naughty boy pranks and that the logic is sometimes hard to find, ah.