Bloodstone

I've been watching some films lately, which is surprisingly rare for me nowadays - the work (which involves a lot of reading and I don't even read as much as I'd like to or I'm supposed to), the kids, other hobbies, spending time with Elina, everything else seems to go first. But as the summer vacation's end was getting near, I found some time to sit on a sofa and put on a film. I even watched Raiders of the Lost Ark once again - I'm not a big admirer of the film (there's just too much silliness going on all the time) and since I didn't see it as a kid, it's no nostalgia trip for me, but still it's pretty entertaining. (And the VHS copy I snatched for 20 cents turned out to be the first video release of the film world-wide. Is this valuable?)

Raiders of the Lost Ark is a good bridge to what I'm really going to blog about: the half-Indian, half-American film called Bloodstone (1988). It's directed by Dwight Little, who's done lots of TV work and the sequel to Free Willy (which I liked more than the original, but I might be alone in my opinion; but hey, better than Free Willy - that can't be much asked, can it?), from a script by Greek Nico Mastorakis, who is said to be (or probably says it himself in the Wikipedia article) a controversial figure, involved in lots of things. Many of the actors are Indian and there's a feel of a Bollywood adventure/musical/comedy in many of the set pieces and scenes in the film. Basically, the film is just an Indiana Jones rip-off, but due to its Indian connections it's interesting.

But alas, it's only that. The story is pretty ordinary - there's this bloodstone, a marvellous jewel with which a beloved princess went to grave hundreds of years ago, there's this American couple spending time in India, there's this conniving thief who's been lucky enough to steal the bloodstone, there's this ruthless European collector who also wants the diamond etc. - and the European actors are all pretty lame, especially the romantic couple (and the woman isn't even good-looking! what were they thinking?). The Indian actors, some of which are famous in their homeland (especially Rajnikanth, who plays a swindling cab driver), are better, but with the story at hand there's not much to do. There might be potential for a good story about betrayals and criss-crosses, but the story neves gets enough speed. Maybe the budgetary limits prevented this taking on the adventure route the video cover hints at. There are some hints to classics, such as Jack Kehler's character, thief Paul Lorre, but they are a bit too obvious.

Still I found this at least a bit entertaining, so if you come across a copy and feel like watching a cheesy adventure flick, go for it - especially if you're a Bollywood enthusiast.