King Solomon's Mines (2004) User Reviews

Enjoyable and entertaining remake for TV of the classical story

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 2 January 2007]

This new agreeable version from H. Rider Haggard adventures follows again Allan Quatermain (one of the members of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) played by an old-looking Patrick Swayze . He is leading a safari in search of legendary diamond mines and save the damsel's father (John Standing) . He is accompanied by a gorgeous woman (Alison Doody) and a captain (Roy Mardsen) , among others . They are pursued by Russian soldiers and must confront natives , wildlife and several dangers and risks until they find the King Salomon's mines .

This overlong television picture displays exciting action , numerous shoot-outs , extraordinary adventures and outlandish cliffhanger situations abound . Patrick Swayze (unforgettable in Dirty dancing) as Quatermain is wooden , Stewart Granger in the classic of the 50s (directed by Compton Bennett and Andrew Marton with Debora Kerr) is incredibly missed . Alison Doody as his mate and lover is better than Patrick . After filming ¨Indiana Jones and the last crusade¨ roller-coaster which made her a successful star , Doody played a few more films and did some publicity but in 1994 she retired and went back to Ireland where she married a magnate . Alison finally came out of retirement since she realized how much she missed acting though she never regretted quitting movies to take care of her family and after divorce she has decided to give another chance to her acting career and is slowly coming back to performance and shooting this remake . Other versions of this known story are the followings : directed by Robert Stevenson (1937, in which the main role was performed by the singer Paul Robeson) , Kurt Neumann (titled Watusi with George Montgomery and David Farrar) and J.Lee Thompson (with Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone) . The film was well produced by Larry Levinson and Robert Halmi , famous producers of big budget television movies based on historic events or remakes . The motion picture was professionally directed by Steve Boyum (Time cop II).

Lengthy but well done adventure

[gayspiritwarrior · 7/10 · 13 June 2004]

This is a sprawling (4 hours) remake of the Rider Haggard story, with the usual added female and an extraneous subplot with Russian soldiers seeking a "Stone of Power" buried along with the treasure of King Solomon. It's very well shot, giving a vivid sense of the wide open spaces of Africa, and very well acted. Patrick Swayze is an excellent Alan Quatermain, and Allison Doody is attractive as Elizabeth Maitland, who hires Quatermain to help rescue her father. Sidede Onyulo as Umbopa, Gavin Hood as McNabb and the leader of the Russian soldiers (not named in IMDb's listing) are also memorable. For all that Hollywood can't leave a good story alone when they adapt it, this one is well told and, except that it's too long, I enjoyed it. 6/10.

Entertaining Action Adventure Appropriate For Whole Family

[reblit · 7/10 · 2 April 2005]

King's Solomon's Mines brings us Patrick Swayze (playing Allan Quatermain)who has spent a lot of time in Africa, but decides it is time to return to England and be a father to his son. He finds that his wife's parents have taken custody of his son and that he has very little chance of getting custody of him with lots of money for a law suit. In comes Alison Deedy (playing Elizabeth) whose father is in Africa and being held by an African tribe for ransom of the map Elizabeth's father had sent her. Elizabeth seeks out Quatermain to take her back to Africa to find her father.

There is a good cast of supporting characters that go along with Quatermain and Elizabeth and of course there are some enemies (Russians) who want the map also.

The movie holds your attention until the end. Patrick once again plays a ruggedly handsome honorable man who comes to the rescue of the damsel in distress. Patrick is a great dramatic actor who can easily portray passion, loss and despair, the rugged silent good man, anger and strength; In King Solomon's Minds his character actually smiles a few times. I would really like to see Patrick Swayze in a relaxed live-loving story again, one in which he doesn't have to clench his jaws and be quite so strong. Maybe a little dancing would help. But this is a good movie for the entire family and worth the time to watch it.

Too heavily made for TV

[Robert_duder · 6/10 · 1 October 2005]

I like Patrick Swayze, I've liked him since his early days when he was on top of Hollywood with the incredible Ghost, RoadHouse, Dirty Dancing, and Point Break. He really was a star and proved he could act too with his incredible role (which should have been Academy Award Nominated) in To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything. His career then slid into oblivion and he hasn't had a comeback yet sadly but he's still around and I was more than anxious to check out King Solomon's mines and see him in action. There is nothing awful about this film, it's well done, well acted, the setting for the film is breathtaking (filmed on location in South Africa.) The film is filled with cultural information whether partly fictional or not it's well worth seeing for those interesting tribes and people. Swayze's Allan Quatermain is emotional, brooding, sad, tough, a real fighter and honest and the perfect good guy.

I was just struck with how old Swayze looks in this film, worn and tired. I realize the man is well into his fifties but he's still Johnny Castle to me. King Solomon's Mines tries to be less action and more drama and adventure and it scores in that vein but there is so little action that the 3 plus hour movie drags so heavily. It might not have felt so long had I seen it on Television in different parts as a mini series but watching it all on DVD, it seemed to go on forever...walking, walking, more walking, searching, and so on and so forth. The whole story relied entirely on the characters and as good as they were they couldn't support the whole film without some different story lines. Leading lady Alison Doody does a good job playing the rather proper Miss Maitland while still being an adventurer of sorts. She seemed a lot tougher back in her Indiana Jones days but then the character was very different. Roy Marsden, Sidede Onyulo, Ian Roberts, all did a great job as supporting cast. They all had a very different characters and they all added to the story in their own ways. Hakeem Kae-Kazim as the evil king Twala was excellent but not nearly as well used as a great bad guy should be. His scenes were brief and I think he really could have been used in a much bigger way. One of the great characters in the film is the spooky witch of the tribe Gagool played by first timer Lesedi Mogoathle. Her role is disturbing and although she's not an evil character in the film but rather someone who really does look out for her tribe. Her make up and character is very cool!! I don't know if they simply signed on some of the local people to be in the film but they do a great job. Anyone looking for a rebirth of Indiana Jones in this film won't find it. It's a completely different genre and it's not entirely lacking action. There are some gun fights and some fist fights and an elaborate battle to the death in the end, but it's just sparse.

The film has a very classic feel to it, it's a very family friendly, modest, clean film. I was struck by a very nostalgic feeling while watching the romance between Elizabeth Maitland and Allan Quatermain because director Steve Boyum really gave it that old Humphrey Bogart saves the girl kinda feel to it...a classic love story. Overall probably a good family film but most adults on their own will want more action out of it. It could have been much better done with a much director as Steve Boyum tends to strike out frequently. Come back SWAYZE!! 6/10

lengthy and a bit boring

[CaizerZalaat · 6/10 · 3 October 2004]

I thought of the film as way too long and quite boring as there didn't really happened much in almost three hours compared to the 1985 movie version with Richard Chamberlain. If you are in to Africa, then you might like the film as there is a lot of nice footage of it. Patrick Swayze is as always his own stiff self, but the beautiful Alison Doody does a great role, or so I think, it doesn't really matter as she is extremely, ridiculously good looking. As for the purpose of the film I don't know. Why make TV-films that really don't give you much of a thrill as it has been shown that it is possible to do them with a bit more content. You who love movies like Indiana Jones or Lara Croft and think this will be anything like those movies will be disappointed...

Very Long

[masterfahd · 4/10 · 3 March 2008]

The movie is very lengthy and unfortunately pretty different from the Novel. If you want to see the movie then don't read the novel first as it will shock you. However, cinematography was OK and if you are a person who loves adventure genres which explores Africa then go for it. Acting performances are adequate, however, many important events that were present in the novel are omitted. In the novel, Sir Henry Curtis was in search of his missing brother rather than a lady in search of her father. Gagool was cunning and was killed in the cave whereas here she was shown to be a good person who preferred to stay with the new king.

The British made 1950 version was better.

[emuir-1 · 13 June 2004]

The main problem with this film was the casting of Patrick Swayze who did not compare well with Stewart Granger in the part of Allan Quatermain. The 1950 version was filmed in the Rift Valley of Kenya and Uganda in an area of brilliant light and suberb scenery. It dazzled us with tribal dancing, stampedes, and lots of wild animals. Unfortunately this current version has a made for TV look about it. Everything seems as if it was done on the cheap, including substituting South Africa for the rift valley. It is so long since I read the book that I cannot recall who were the villains, but this time around it is the Russians. The leading lady looks 70 years out of place with her 60's hair style and make up.

I recommend the 1950 version.

I'm looking forward to the film of the novel

[neil-476 · 7/10 · 10 June 2010]

Let's be honest right from the start. This lengthy made for TV special is a very entertaining action/adventure period piece. It's a bit sprawling, but it keeps you interested. And Patrick Swayze brings a certain grizzled macho charm to Allan Quatermain, while Alison Doody is decorative and far from helpless as the leading lady.

But, notwithstanding a couple of nods by way of set pieces in the final act, it ain't Rider Haggard's book. And that's a pity, because the book is a) good and b) film-able. Yet, in a number of attempts, the films have always featured divergences of such significance that what is on screen is essentially a different story.

Maybe one day...

Another carcass to the pile of bones for this title

[nomercy · 2/10 · 14 July 2008]

OK. Not bad movie making if it were from an original script. BUT IT IS NOT!

Which part of "in this story there are no women, except for Foulata and Gagoola" introduction by Haggard did the producers, directors and writers not understand? I mean, it is pretty plain English. I understood it at age 10!. The beauty of KSM is that it contains a spectacular description of three different worlds, the colonial Africa, the unforgiving desert and Kukuanaland, a hidden and isolated kingdom. That should be more than enough for even the most mediocre of producers to work with. But, nooo, they have to throw "romance" into it. Pathetic. Suggestion to all you poor souls who actually thought this would be close to the book. Give it up. Until a Peter Jackson wannabe comes along and "does it right" you may as well keep re-reading the tome. BTW, there is a sequel book (actually a pre-quel) called Allan's wife. It gives background to the story of Quatermain. It is a bit creepy but good.

Surprisingly not bad

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 24 July 2012]

Not that I was expecting it to be, but sometimes I do get a feeling that although you think you are going to enjoy it that there is a chance you'll be let down. I was pleasantly surprised. Of course it's not perfect, I do think it is too long with a few scenes that drag in pace and some of the supporting cast sport accents and quite badly done ones too. However, it does look great with beautiful scenery and skilled camera work. The soundtrack does give a sense of adventure, without feeling plodding, over-bearing or generic, while the script even with the odd stilted line is witty and the story has the right amounts of suspense and thrills with well choreographed and edited action sequences. Patrick Swayze I was dubious about as this was not the sort of role I associated him with, but he does do credibly. The female lead Alison Doody is beautiful and quite sassy and John Standing and Roy Marsden give solid supporting turns, thankfully not being plagued by the accents issue. So all in all, not bad, could've been better but I can think of worse ways to waste my time. 6.5/10 Bethany Cox

An awful adaption of a classic novel

[killer_koalabear · 2/10 · 18 November 2005]

The movie is an extra-long tale of a classic novel that completely fails to capture the original adventure's spirit. The quite horribly American Patrick Swayze is cast as the British hero Allan Quatermain despite the obviousness of his nationality.

The movie continues throughout to "Hollywood-ise" the story by changing both the plot and the characters to fit more comfortably into the accepted mold. The movie manages to be predictable throughout, even to those who are not familiar with the story and is plagued by some extremely bad acting and terribly disappointing fight sequences.

All in all, a terrible addition to the already quite bad collection of movies based on the legend of King Soloman's Mines and Allan Quatermain.

Thoroughly entertaining, beautifully filmed, not for purists

[cindyp2720 · 8/10 · 14 June 2004]

If you a purist, don't waste your time - otherwise, hold onto your hat and enjoy the adventure. I loved the Stewart Granger/Deborah Kerr version - I've seen it dozens of times, but this film is every bit as good, only different. I won't detail the differences because it would spoil the film. Also, it is a pleasure to see Alison Doody again (I'm a huge Indiana Jones fan), Patrick Swayze is good as Quatermain, and the supporting cast is superb. I find the quality of the supporting cast one of the trademarks of a Hallmark Production and this film was no exception. The cinematography is splendid and the score is perfect. If you are looking for entertainment, you won't be disappointed.

The plot was too standard for me. Nothing special here.

[chessimprov · 6/10 · 12 June 2004]

I felt like I was watching an old movie, but with color. It's not so much the "oldness" that bugged me about the movie. What you think might happen in the movie pretty much does. For a flick where a person is going into tombs, nothing surprising at all if you've seen other movies like this one. The only thing good about the movie was that the story as a whole was a bit different because there was a little more to the story than you might expect. Again though, nothing special even about the other parts.

There is a ring which comes up in the movie, but then they expect you to imply things about it. They don't make good connections with that to the story. This 4 hour movie easily could have been one hour.

There was a funny clip after the movie that was shown involving three guys and a group of elephants. That was better than the whole movie, but you can see why they took the funny clip out when you see the movie.

Dull adaptation

[Vartiainen · 5/10 · 18 July 2015]

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.

Oh... Mercy

[albaitis · 19 May 2005]

You might like this if you are into anemic, trite, space-taking, sub standard mini-series adaptations with all the excitement of a monotone review of the phone book as a literary work. I rented this on a special 2 for $1 deal.

I got burned.

And to think that I passed on an episode of Deadwood to watch this time bandit. The only redeeming aspect of this non-event is the cinematography. And still only a small percentage of it was above average.

You would think that I would, by now, be a bit more discerning and not simply grab a movie because the one I wanted was unavailable. I'll consider this bad choice as the equivalent of a spanking for playing in the mud.

Underrated again

[andres_ge88 · 7/10 · 1 June 2020]

This should have been a 3 hour movie instead of a Tv Mini Series. The storyline itself is great, and using the character Allan Quartermain from the comics is a pretty good idea. Patrick Swayze does an amazing job in this movie, comparable to this he Allan Quartermain played by Sean Connery in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

entertaining and exciting, adventurous take on the classic story

[HelenMary · 7/10 · 5 August 2013]

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.

Mwah

[Pieter050 · 4/10 · 7 June 2005]

Start of with the good bit: several times Swayze talks Zulu to his friends or that language is heard among the tribes. That's a great plus, as normally USA & UK movie audiences think all people on this planet speak English (just in case you're one of them: no they don't).

But the acting is 'tenenkrommend' as we say in The Netherlands (it makes your toes curl -and not in a good way). I like Swayze but in this he's awful. The muscles in his jaws make overtime and he's frowning the whole movie -some one must have told him it looks butch. No Patrick: it looks silly and is compensation for lack of character. Alison Doody (Elizabeth) has opted for a style of acting that does not meet the style of her co-workers. Her acting is só relaxed that this movie could have been set in the current days. And it's not. Your frock was a clue, Alison.

The best acting came from the people from the African Continent and Sided Onyulo as Umbopa I liked best. Clear, warm and in character, his performance is a joy to watch.

General: it is mildly entertaining on a rainy day. Pity. Could have been better.

Just gonna send this is in as a goof in the movie making, don't know where you submit this??

[gahan68 · 7/10 · 19 June 2006]

Who the hell rests at night whilst walking in the desert and travels in the heat of the sun, and these people are supposed to be professional trackers/journeymen!! Who the hell rests at night whilst walking in the desert and travels in the heat of the sun, and these people are supposed to be professional trackers/journeymen!! Who the hell rests at night whilst walking in the desert and travels in the heat of the sun, and these people are supposed to be professional trackers/journeymen!! Who the hell rests at night whilst walking in the desert and travels in the heat of the sun, and these people are supposed to be professional trackers/journeymen!! Who the hell rests at night whilst walking in the desert and travels in the heat of the sun, and these people are supposed to be professional trackers/journeymen!!

African adventure and treasure-hunting

[Alphonse_van_Worden · 1/10 · 4 September 2005]

This is the worst imaginable crap. The novel by H. Rider Haggard is very entertaining and dramatic. The makers of this worthless movie don't follow it closely. Well, old novels aren't sacred and making free versions of them is fine with me if one has ideas of one's own. If all one can do is changing things and replace them with uninteresting and watered-down clichés one should stick to the original. If they had done that this film would have been at least twice as good even with worse actors and if filmed inside a studio with huts made of cardboard. BUt there's no imagination at all only tiredness. This should be bought or watched only by collectors of Victorian novels made into movies.

Just a hint, and not a spoiler I think, to make those of you who have read the novel understand what has taken place and what you may expect if you decide to watch this on TV or - God forbid - waste money on buying this. Gagool an old baddie witch in the book and some precursor to Gollum has been turned into a nice gal!

Decent enough entertainment

[tcobmascot · 7/10 · 16 November 2020]

It isn't the book, but still makes a pleasant yarn. One significant shortcoming for me is Ian Robert's pathetic attempt to mimic a Scottish accent. But, if you focus on the story, it is an afternoon diversion of poor marksmanship and tame adventure. Good for the kids as there is nothing expletive in the dialogue and the bad guys are not really that scary.

ordinary, tepid, seriously average

[obliviyum · 2/10 · 6 August 2006]

I picked this movie on the cover alone thinking that i was in for an adventure to the level of "Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom". Unfortunately I was in for a virtual yawn. Not like any yawn i have had before though. This yawn was so large that i could barely find anything of quality in this movie. The cover described amazing special effects. There were none. The movie was so lightweight that even the stereotypes were awfully portrayed. It does give the idea that you can solve problems with violence. Good if you want to teach your kids that. I don't. Keep away from this one. If you are looking for family entertainment then you might find something that is more inspiring elsewhere.

A real action movie.

[nabor7 · 8/10 · 14 June 2004]

I thought King Solomon's Mines was beautifully done. My only reservation was Alison Doody. Her acting was superb but her makeup and hair was not of the period, and always seemed to make her look out of place next to the other actors. I thought Patrick Swayze was an excellent choice for Alan Quatermain. It was nice seeing a seasoned, rugged looking actor in this role after sitting through movie after movie with the fair haired, fair skinned actors like Val Kilmer, Brad Pitt, etc. He was an excellent choice and I enjoyed every minute of this movie. This version cannot be compared with the 1950's version with Stewart Grainger. It was a big screen movie and not a made for TV movie. I thought both Quatermains were believable but the two medias have to be kept separated. I am looking forward to seeing this once more, and I hope Patrick Swayze will again look to these type of roles.

Too Slow and Too Long!!!

[usinoh-1 · 7/10 · 14 June 2004]

When I heard Patrick Swayze was finally returning to his acting career with KING SOLOMON'S MINES I was very excited. I was expecting a great Indiana Jones type action adventure. What I got was a 4 hour long (with commercials) epic that was very slow. The second and third hour could have been dropped altogether and the story would not have suffered for it. The ending was good (no spoilers here)but I was still left wanting more. Well all a guy can do is prey that Swayze does "RoadHouse 2" so he can get back into the action genre that made him famous. Until than if your a fan of King Solomon's Mines than read the book or watch the 1985 version with Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone which is also not very good but its only and hour and forty minutes of your life gone instead of 4 hours.

Awful Movie

[lunabu_ie · 1/10 · 11 July 2004]

I missed the first 10 or so minutes of the movie but don't think watching it from the beginning would've made any difference. I found the film extremely boring and was disappointed with the acting. I remember Patrick Swayze and some of the other actors (Roy Marsden, for instance) in outstanding roles but they all disappointed here due to a very weak script. "Kind Solomon's Mines"...the very short part of the movie inside the "mines" was about as exciting as watching paint dry and I doubt that even a pre-school kid would've been spell-bound by watching the fight of the "warriors". The entire movie was reminiscent of a cheaply produced American TV series. Give me Indiana Jones any day!