ABOUT THIS EPISODE
The Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon
The Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon from 2008 is the latest movie I am taking a look at under the Stargate Theatre banner, the movie stars Michael Shanks and Shannen Doherty with JR Bourne and others who will be familiar to Stargate fans.
The movie begins with an archaeological expedition led by Professor Sam Jordan played by Duncan Fraser which is being pursued by native warriors who do not appreciate their society being plundered by outsiders, there are deaths but events take a twist when a beast appears and attacks both groups. We then cut to a base camp deep with the canyons which is being overlooked by the Professor’s daughter Susan Jordan (Shannen) herself an archeologist along with fellow experts Jacob Thain (Shanks), Marco Langford (Bourne) and Hildy Wainwright ( Heather Doerksen ). A group led by Susan go in search of her father and eventually find themselves faced with a huge canyon wall but with Jacob’s expertise they find a secret passage and find themselves in an Aztec society cut off from the outside world with their own very real deity who feasts on the hearts of sacrificed men and women. The group face many challenges in search of the Professor and just to survive, as one by one they fall to traps and capture it is left to Jacob to once again use his knowledge to sway the High Priest and the people when he faces down their god.
As you can imagine that was a brief synopsis, the movie is more complex but not terribly fast paced which doesn’t keep the viewers interest. That said the acting is fine, the script is nothing special but the production is not bad at all and even through the beast/god CGI lacks finesse there are times the cinematographer and director make it look quite spectacular. Michael Shanks as Jacob puts in a good performance as there is certainly character growth and JR Bourne scene steals with the bad boy Marco. Shannen however has little to do and the rest of the supporting cast contribute to the extent of their roles. The movie could have been better if was faster paced but I think they had issues with runtime but if you are a fan of Shanks etc they by all means sit back and enjoy the mystery and adventure.
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