The Curse Of King Tut's Tomb: A fun, harmless mini-series with poor Casper Van Dien

Lot

I normally wouldn't encourage, even insist, you go out and spend hard-earned cash on a made-for-television mini-series, especially one as light and frothy as The Curse Of King Tut's Tomb. However, for the $3.99 price at Amazon, I'm seriously considering snapping up my own copy, especially if I just need some little extra thing to get that free shipping. And this would be a fun treat for myself, because it's light-hearted, fun, well-acted and surprisingly well-written.

First off, no gore for the sake of gore. There are a few eerie scenes, but it all fit into the story, and wasn't there as cheap filler. It's tame, so some folks out there might find this boring, but there are plenty of times when I just want something to watch that isn't going to disturb me, or any youngster that might walk into the room. I hate to use the term 'family friendly' because that has such a watered-down, saccharin-sweet connotation, but I would be comfortable letting my little nephew watch this with me.

The story is set back in 1922 Cairo, with the hunt for King Tut's tomb in full swing by various people for various reasons. Casper Van Dien is the main character, Danny Freemont, a total ripoff of Indiana Jones as far as being a young, charismatic young archeologist who also teaches. There are plenty of costumes that just made me laugh out loud at the intentional 'borrowing' from that iconic character. However, there are plenty of differences as the story progresses, including Danny being on the outs with most of his academic peers because of his radical theories, including the existence of Atlantis, and the purpose of four pieces of an emerald tablet that is in King Tut's tomb.

We get to see his rival immediately, as Danny uncovers a third piece of this fabled tablet, only to have it stolen out from under him by Morgan Sinclair, a member of a secret cabal of powerful men. This secret society is out to control the world (naturally), and Morgan Sinclair has assured them that attaining the four pieces of this emerald tablet is the key. Morgan isn't highly respected by his own peers, since his accomplishments are only as a result of following Danny Freemont around and stealing from him. However, he is a force to be reckoned with for his ruthlessness, and ability to seethe with anger at the appropriate times. I find it necessary to point out that Morgan Sinclair is played by Jonathan Hyde, an original player in the blockbuster The Mummy, so he's an 'old hat' at this sort of role, and does it well.

The other main character is the love interest, a lovely French Egyptologist named Azelia Barakat played by Leonor Varela. She's the stereotypical heroine for this kind of movie. She's smart, beautiful, adventurous, despises (at least on the surface) our hero, and is conveniently engaged to another man to make her 'unattainable'. There is believable chemistry between her and Casper Van Dien, and it actually helps the story that it's such a platonic sort of romance, because that forces the writers to actually do some character development, as well as make sure the story is interesting enough to keep you watching.

There are plenty of other great characters throughout, but the main three I've just discussed are the ones that drive the plot, and provide a surprising amount of humor. Even the villain provides some great laughs as he deals with his underlings, and Casper Van Dien proves that he can deliver a funny line very well. The more roles I see Casper Van Dien in, the more I think it's a shame his star never reached higher than Starship Troopers.

The plot on this movie is pretty generic, even though it has the twist of making King Tut an actual god who fights to save the world. Even at nearly four hours, it never dragged, and constantly made me wistful for at least this good of writing and acting in all of the movies I subject myself to. For the great price, I am definitely adding The Curse Of King Tut's Tomb to my Amazon shopping cart, and I highly recommend you take the plunge, too!