The Devil's Tomb (2009) starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Taryn Manning, Valerie Cruz, Franky G, Zack Ward directed by Jason Connery Movie Review

The Devil's Tomb (2009)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Cuba Gooding Jr. in The Devil's Tomb (2009)

Not a Total Waste of Tomb

When scientist Professor Wesley (Ron Perlman) goes missing in a top secret underground archaeological laboratory deep beneath the sand in the Middle East it is soldier of fortune, Mack (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and his elite team who are called in to rescue him. But these guys are attack and destroy specialists, not rescuers, and they are not up against the usual enemy as the laboratory is in an old tomb and it is the ancient Nephilim which is causing major issues for everyone.

All actors are not the same and I imagine some see acting as an art, picking movies which interest and challenge them whilst others see acting as a job and so are less discriminate about what movies they do as long as they pay. It is just my little theory which I always use to explain why some actors who are A-listers appear in some poor movies and risk their credibility to do so. It is the theory I find myself frequently using when it comes to Cuba Gooding Jr. who over the years has appeared in some terrible movies which make you question what was he thinking. And it is a question used in conjunction with "The Devil's Tomb" a poor movie with Gooding Jr. in the lead and kind of interestingly was the directional debut of Jason Connery.

Valerie Cruz in The Devil's Tomb (2009)

"The Devil's Tomb" is a movie riddled with issues from the dumb concept through to dumb dialogue and effects, notice I didn't say special as people staggering around to make it appear that a room is shaking is neither convincing nor special. The thing is, is that concept behind "The Devil's Tomb" whilst coming across as dumb could work; a group of elite soldiers sent on a rescue mission end up battling something strange has been done before with some success when it comes to dealing with aliens but here it has no life and seems dumb. It also means it is predictable as you can guess that slowly the elite team will start to be picked off one by one with those who are cocky or arrogant definitely on the list to die.

The trouble is that "The Devil's Tomb" has nothing to offer other than the obvious, battles with some ancient super power, team picked off one by one and not a great deal else. Oh there is a back story surrounding some previous mission where we get scenes featuring Ray Winstone but they seem like a completely different movie and attempts to make the character Mack one who is tortured by his past only ends up ridiculous.

What this all boils down to is that "The Devil's Tomb" offers up surprisingly little and in truth despite a few familiar names alongside those of Gooding Jr., Perlman and Winstone is one of those movies which you end up doing other things when it is on with only your attention being regained by something daft, such as one soldier having a vision of a naked woman in the tomb.


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