review: SANDS OF OBLIVION

Anchor Bay  //  Buy from Amazon.com In 1923, legendary film director Cecil B. DeMille constructed a replica of ancient Egypt in the California desert for his epic movie The Ten Commandments. After filming was completed, he ordered the entire set buried. For the last 85 years, the unanswered question remains: Why? A modern day excavation crew lead by soon-to-be divorced archaeologist couple Jesse and Alice Carter (Baldwin and Baccarin) have uncovered the secret that DeMille tried in vain to bury: the set holds the spirit of a vengeful Egyptian god, trapped in a smuggled artifact amongst the movie props. Unleashing an ancient centuries-old horror, it will be up to Jesse and Alice, along with an Iraq War combat veteran (Victor Webster, "Charmed") to recapture the vile fury of ages past. More so than most DVDs that we receive for review @ the mighty DVDschlockhouse, "Sands of Oblivion" drew me in immediately - what a very cool, original and interesting premise. Also unlike most titles received for review, I put it in to watch the same night I received. What I didn't realize until after was that this was a Sci-Fi Channel movie, which typically means 2 things: (1) cheesy story & effects and (2) b-movie mayhem. Sure enough, "Sands of Oblivion" had both in spades - while the underlying story was fascinating, they also cheesed it up with a pretty-boy soldier, ridiculously-hot archeologist, and some fairly well done special effects. Of particulr note is the sequence where paintings on the interior walls of an Egyptian temple literally leap off the wall and fight with the good guys (shades of "Young Sherlock Holmes!!") The dog-headed vengeful spirit was also pretty bad-ass - nowhere near as cheesy or weak as you might've expected from a made-for-cable TV film. All in all, this film is entertaining and just plain fun - can't say that about enough films these days, so it was great to kick back and just enjoy this film. Video I was really impressed with the 16x9 anamorphic widescreen transfer - in particular, the opening sequence seemed to leap right off my screen and almost appear to be high definition... What a gorgeous transfer! Audio Strong, solid Dolby 5.1 surround mix delives the goods. Extras making-of featurette Closing Thoughts Entertaining sci-fi romp with a helluva enticing premise + minimal extras = well worth your time to sit down & watch