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Sands of Oblivion is directed by David Flores. The
film stars Adam Baldwin, Dan Castellaneta, George Kennedy,
Richard Kind, and John Aniston. This was a made-for-TV movie
that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel. ***
Sands of Oblivion follows the adventures of a group
of people who are investigating a site in which Cecil B.
DeMille filmed one of his biblical epics nearly half a century
ago. The ruins of his set were buried in the sand at the
conclusion of filming, and the group of explorers is digging
through the area in which they were buried, searching for
artifacts. But things take a turn for the worst - during
their dig, they unleash a curse - a deadly creature is releases,
and begins terrorizing the would-be archaeologists with
a number of plagues. Now they need to find a way to escape
from the curse, without being killed in the process. ***
This is one of those movies that is, truly, middle-of-the-road
quality. The premise is original, the action scenes late
in the film are fun to watch, and the overall execution
does top most made-for-TV movies. But the experience is
dragged down by often lackluster CGI and weak plot/character
development along the two-hour duration - which will feel
too long. Still, this isn't half bad for a made-for-TV movie.
***
There are a surprising number of strengths in this film
- more than this reviewer was expecting. The story of DeMille's
Ten Commandments set being buried beneath the sands is unexpected
as a plot for another stand-alone movie, and yet it works
so well here. The whole “releasing a curse” aspect of the
movie is nothing new, but the director and writers still
manage to make the whole thing feel fresh. Also fun to watch
are the action/chase sequences later in the movie. ***
If the movie has a weakness, apart from the fairly
weak character and plot development (this isn't that kind
of movie, anyway), it's the CGI. Not so much that the computer
animation here is bad - but it's uneven. Some of the scenes
look absolutely incredible, yet some reek of that made-for-TV
rush job. While this issue does deal a damaging blow to
the presentation, it's nothing serious enough to ruin the
experience.
Image And Sound: The DVD version of Sands of Oblivion
both looks and sounds fantastic. This is an above-average
transfer, considering it was a made-for-TV film, though
as good a transfer as this is, it can't cover up the often
lackluster CGI effects. Audio fares just as well, all of
the dialogue, music, and other sounds come across loud and
clear. ---
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