I finally got around to watching this and compared to ROC's "Alien
Apocalypse" it was great. Compared to just about anything else, it was
pretty lame.

Right off the bat - they had to be just about the most careless
archeologists ever! I understand that once the fate of the world hung in the
balance that being careful and documenting everything was out the window,
but to have started out that way??? I mean there wasn't even an attempt to
pretend that they were professionals and knew how to approach retrieving an
artifact. No measurements, no cameras, no drawings, nothing - just get in
there and dig the damn thing out.

The CGI "monster" was really bad - obviously done on a very tight budget and
in a too-short period of time so that it wasn't at all scary or "realistic."
And if it was impervious to modern-day weapons, how did the ancient people
ever manage to 1) rid the earth of all but this one and 2) how did they ever
manage to subdue it to put it into the crate and 3) what special wood did
they use to build the crate that would prevent the monster from breaking
free?

You can't even say it was paying homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark, it was a
blatant rip-off of some of the most memorable scenes, but done very poorly.
If felt like this was a story written by some 11-year-olds who had limited
imagination and could only think of recreating scenes from their favorite
movie.

And I'm afraid I must disagree with David - Renee did not "shine" in her
part. In fact, I found her performance to be surprisingly wooden. I know
that ROC can act - really act. We have seen some amazing emotional
portrayals from her in X:WP: anger, fear, sadness, love, etc. and she was
incredibly believable. Hey - that's the reason she was hired for Xena in the
first place, to provide the acting prowess that they were afraid Lucy lacked
(and she did, in the beginning). But for some reason, very little of that
ability came through in this role. I'm not sure if the director thought that
they wanted her to be subdued and withdrawn to show her current state of
dislike for her ex or what, but she just seemed very uncomfortable and
unnatural throughout most of the movie. I can't really put it into words,
but Renee's acting has always had a certain "spark" which was missing in
this role. I will agree with David that she still looks good!

My verdict? About a 3. And it's that high ONLY because ROC had a starring
role!

Laura