Steineded How sad is this?

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Anssi Vartiainen There's nothing really wrong with this version of King Solomon's Mines. There really isn't. It follows the events of the original novel rather faithfully, yet still changes things where needed to keep the story flowing in this different medium.Though yes, I would prefer that Allan Quatermain, a character noted almost solely for his marksmanship, would actually connect with a bullet at least once, but other than that, the characters are fine. The sets and locations are also suitably varied and impressive-looking, the music is not awful and as far as TV movies go, the action scenes could be a lot worse. Though yes, actually hitting stuff seems to be something of a problem.But, the biggest problem is that it's a TV movie. As thus, the plot absolutely crawls forward. With emphasis on crawls. I get that they didn't have a budget to do anything really outlandish and that it needs to be of certain length, but come on... something needs to happen for the majority of time.I honestly think this would have been a better experience if I hadn't sat through it in one sitting. At almost three hours it's way too long for any viewer to keep up his or her interest from start to finish. In the end that means that King Solomon's Mines falls just short of being average, but is by no means a movie you shouldn't check out if you're interested.

HelenMary Patrick Swayze was perfectly cast for this; outdoorsy, rugged, handsome and clearly physically able. He was very believable as Alan Quatermain and I loved him in this role. His chemistry opposite Alison Doody was great and she is very beautiful and elegant but she remained far too groomed throughout the adventure, which detracted from her believability and she looked too modern although acted the part well. The cinematography was stunning; beautifully filmed on location with convincing sets and village, and the sweeping vistas and scenes added to the overall entertainment of the film/miniseries.I've watched it a number of times and it never fails to entertain and is enjoyable family viewing. The ensemble cast are all good, especially the actors playing McNabb (Gavin Hood) and Umbopa (Sidede Onyulo), Dr Maitland (John Standing), Twala (Hakeem Kae-Kazim) and the stand out character for me was the beautiful, fey and eldritch Gagool the witchdoctor (Lesedi Mogoathle) who's performance stays in the mind long after the film has finished especially the "Stop breathing" scene. Scary! Swayze really was wonderful in this role, the romance between Quatermain and Elizabeth is perfectly staged - he is a perfect gentleman - and the story, the screenplay, is gripping and exciting. Made for TV as a mini-series it's one of those films that can be watched over and over again and never becomes tired. I recommend it although it is what it is; Indiana Jones/The Librarian type archaeological adventure straight out of a "Hollywood" studio. Old fashioned entertainment.

Stanton McCandlish True, it does not follow the book very closely, but it's still a very entertaining take on the story. Swayze was far better in the role than I expected. And Doody avoided the "silly woman out of her depth in the wilderness" portrayal most of us probably expected (cf. Kate Capshaw in "Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom").At any rate, it's amazingly better than Richard Chamberlain's awful pair of Quatermain flicks.It is very reminiscent of a western in many ways. About the only thing I didn't care for was all the mysticism, but I guess that is part and parcel of the genre. Like "how can you have an African adventure story without witch doctresses and preternaturally wise wandering tribesmen?" Heh.

Elswet The problem with the 1985 version of this movie is simple; Indiana Jones was so closely modeled after Alan Quartermain (or at least is an Alan Quartermain TYPE of character), that the '85 director made the mistake of plundering the IJ movies for dialog and story far too deeply. What you got as a finished product was a jumbled mess of the name Alan Quartermain, in an uneven hodge podge of a cheaply imitated IJ saga (with a touch of Austin Powers-esquire cheese here and there). It was labeled by many critics to have been a "great parody," or "unintentional comedy." Unintentional is the word. This movie was never intended to be humorous; witty, yes, but not humorous. Unfortunately, it's witless rather than witty.With this new M4TV mini-series, you get much more story, character development of your lead, solid portrayals, and a fine, even, entertaining blend. This story is a bit long; much longer than its predecessors, but deservedly so as this version carries a real storyline and not just action and Eye Candy. While it features both action and Eye Candy, it also corrects the mistake made in the 1985 version by forgetting IJ all together and going back to the source materials for AQ, making for a fine, well - thought - out plot, and some nice complementing sub-plots. Now this attempt is not the all out action-extravaganza that is Indiana Jones. Nor is it a poor attempt to be so. This vehicle is plot and character driven and is a beautiful rendition of the AQ/KSM saga. Filmed on location in South Africa, the audience is granted beautiful (if desolate) vistas, SA aboriginal cultures, and some nice wildlife footage to blend smoothly with the performances and storyline here.Steve Boyum totally surprised me with this one, as I have never been one to subscribe to his vision. In fact, I have disliked most of his work as a director, until this attempt. I hope this is more a new vein of talent and less the fluke that it seems to be. This version rates a 9.8/10 on the "TV" scale from...the Fiend :.