This installment is irrefutable proof that these are not stand-alone films, because you need to have seen Lost Treasure of Ugarit for this to even begin to make sense. That having been said, this one was a bit harder to stomach, because it dealt much more with ancient Egyptian history (in this case New Kingdom, specifically the reign of Akhenaten/Amenhotep IV) in connection to Ugarit, and it didn't score very high, not in my judgment. I went fact checking online. Ugarit was a real place and was destroyed, but apparently there were phases to this, and we can confirm that the city was basically gone by Year 8 of Ramesses III, almost a hundred years after Akhenaten's reign. The flick claims that Amarna is northeast of Cairo and only by a few kilometers, which is also baldly wrong. Amarna is much more to the south. Third most blatantly wrong fact of the day, Jack Hunter (the alleged expert) asks if the obelisk, a stone object, was carbon dated. That technique applies only to living things. For nonliving things, other methods of radioactive dating are used, or the objects are dated based on rock layers in which they are found, or by some other surroundings-based means.
They didn't touch ancient myth, however, which earns it bonus points over The Mummy Returns. One thing I am starting to pick up with this series, though, is the use of sunlight and sun disk imagery, which makes sense given the subject matter (one of the world's first monotheists, who insisted on worship of the Aten, or sun disk, as the official state religion) but kind of muddies the water a bit. This genre has a tendency to make things which aren't western or based on Abrahamic faiths, western and based on Abrahamic faiths, and I have a good deal of concern about something like that proceeding forward into part three of the trilogy/miniseries. But since Atenism is a real thing and has been correctly attributed to the right person (the one most famous for trying to bring it about), I'm cutting some slack, perhaps more than I should.
The third and final general area of concern for this installment is the catfight angle. They bring in a woman from Jack Hunter's past and put her in a position where she and his current interest go at it in subtle and not-so-subtle ways until finally they come to blows and one of them dies (you'll be happy about this, trust me). To me, it wasn't even all that necessary, and the "big reveal" of "I don't trust her" being the correct viewpoint despite coming from a catty bitch feels contrived. Just because she's the protagonist's romantic interest doesn't mean she's right. You could've had her falter in her judgment at least this once instead of always hitting the nail on the head. Would that have been so hard, Jack Hunter movie makers?
All that being said, this is about as enjoyable a ride as the first Jack Hunter, and so far the miniseries is managing to stay afloat. Action, adventure, epic escapes, neat music, and the comic relief who somehow manages to always pull through at the end, which is a lot more enjoyable than the above catfighting scenario, mostly because the comic relief is actually funny in these movies. It's enjoyable to listen to his one-liners and watch him pretend to bumble about before kicking some ass (which he does in this one, with a fire extinguisher to boot), or even just bumble about. Hell, even his bitching is enjoyable, and you'll see what I mean if you get to the end of this one, especially.
This is also the installment which builds on the setup from the previous. It's revealed who the bad guy's mysterious client is (an even bigger bad, a Russian mobster who's apparently part of Akhenaten's death cult (why that would still be around is beyond me)), and the big reveal at the end of the first is expanded upon and dealt with, revealing yet another jealous, possessive bitch. I don't see why this has to be a thing in the media, making our women jealous and possessive of the male leads all the time. I mean sure, we'll be upset if somebody we love is with someone else, but we get over it (in most cases). This kind of consistency (three times for one series, more than a coincidence, and I kind of pity Jack Hunter in this regard) is inconsistent with real life occurrences. For example, why would the woman from Hunter's past still want him? Why would she care if he's moved on, and why would she instantly hate the woman he's moved on with? SPOILER ALERT: She's already with someone else. It shouldn't even matter, unless she's trying to play a mind game. And that's another thing. There are a lot of mind games going around. So much for straight up honesty, filmmakers.
In any event, try not to think too much, or else you'll start ranting at the computer screen (or wherever you watch these things) as I've done. It is a good ride and it builds on what we've learned from the previous installment, marking this a true miniseries and definitive proof that you need to watch these in order for anything to make any sense. As I said last night, treat it like a really, really long movie.
Next on "For the Love of Night at the Museum": The Epic Movie comes to a conclusion in the third installment of This Blogger: This Blogger and the Star of Heaven. Will the miniseries keep it's momentum? Will This Blogger see the end of the hunt for the ultimate weapon, the Star of Heaven? Will the comic relief continue to be the comic relief? Will this join the body of my secondary muses? That's all next.
Countdown: 276 Days to NATM 3
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