Legends of the Hidden Temple
| Legends of the Hidden Temple | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster by Drew Struzan | |
| Directed by | Steven Spielberg |
| Produced by | George Lucas |
| Written by | David G. Stanley Scott A. Stone Stephen Brown |
| Starring | |
| Music by | John Williams |
| Cinematography | Dan Schneider |
| Edited by |
|
Production company | Nickelodeon Movies |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date | September 11, 1993 |
Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million |
| Box office | $3 million |
Legends of the Hidden Temple is a 1993 action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It stars Jason Statham as Kirk "Blue Barracuda" Fogg and Stephen Seagal as Olmec in an action-packed adventure with a plot inspired by the Indiana Jones series. It incorporated unusual elements such as insane stunts, long and drawn out narrations, strange decisions, and a time limit.
The movie has had mixed reviews with Ebert giving it a thumbs up and Roeper ripping his eyeballs out of his sockets shortly after the credits, but overall it has been considered a success.
Plot[edit | edit source]
At the beginning of the movie, Kirk "Blue Barracuda" Fogg contacts by an unknown source, knowing the location of the mysterious Shine of the Silver Monkey. Kirk meets him at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida to discuss the matter in a parking lot; instead, he was injected with a poison and told the general location of the ruin. Kirk buys a plane ticket to South America and quickly gets over to the Amazon Rainforest. There, he is greeted by a mysterious figure whose name is only known as "Olmec", a person of Mayan decent who agrees to help Kirk find the Shrine. He summons twelve other people arranged into six teams to accompany them during their journey. Kirk and Olmec are quickly greeted by the Amazon River, which they need to cross in order to press a button on the other side. Rather than chop down one of the decently large trees that could offer them a bridge or take the nearby toll bridge, they attempt to ford the river with rafts. Before they finish crossing the river, one team falls off and is eaten by a hoard of piranhas; the rest made it across safely. They press the button on the other side; it is revealed that it is actually just the button to operate the toll bridge in an emergency override fashion. Needless to say the bridge guard left his post with his AK-47 in hand and started to empty a clip into the teams, only to horribly miss in embarrassment. Kirk and Olmec, however, had much better aim.
Next, the teams ascended the steps of a Latin American pyramid that Olmec says contains the shrine. They answer quiz questions offered as they go up the stairs, even though it was completely unnecessary and they could have just walked up the stairs without saying a word. During this, one team falls down the stairs, snapping their necks; the rest made it to the top. Now at the top of the temple, they climb down the entrance to the lower reaches of the insides, which have been coated with soap to prevent tourists from reaching the insides of the temple. One team chickened out and went home while the others persevered, and miraculously, no injuries nor deaths occur while scaling this soap-encoated wall. Finally, the teams reach the inside the temple; at this point Kirk's time is running out, but he keeps on going. Olmec reads the text on the wall and outlines the next few challenges they have to face in the final parts of their journey: first, they Togo into the room of the three gargoyles, push the correct tongue, and enter the next room where they could either climb a wall or jump into the pit of despair; second, they have to walk on a rickety bridge where the final loyal team dies; and thirdly, they loot the room of the Golden Idols. They then enter the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, grab the Silver Monkey, and take the secret passage to the outside, which was part of an essential brick that one team was standing on waiting for the others to to get out; the team ultimately slips and cracks their necks on the stone below. Olmec and Kirk stand triumphantly with the Silver Monkey in hand, but are then arrested by Brazillian police.
While in prison, the man who initiated this mess confiscates the Silver Monkey and releases the two prisoners. They ride by helicopter back to Florida, where Kirk is administered the cure. When the mysterious man reveals his intentions to have the two search for other treasures under the incentive of keeping their lives, Kirk and Olmec refuse, and a fight occurs resulting in the two being thrown out of the helicopter, with their bodies landing on the brush below. At the end of the movie, a group of Floridians gather around the dead bodies, and two faint heartbeats are heard; and then, the credits roll as REM's "Everybody Hurts" is heard in the background.
An alternate ending, as seen on the 2005 2-Disc Special-Edition DVD, features a cameo by Malcolm McDowell as an archaeologist named Sam Loomis, who is hunting down the Temple Guard who killed Kirk Fogg. When Loomis finds a way to turn Olmec back into human form (He was turned into a stone head in a deleted scene, also included on the DVD.), the Temple Guard threatens to kill Olmec. Loomis then tries to negotiate with him, saying "It's not their fault! It's mine! I failed you, Michael!" which leads Michael, the Temple Guard, to kill Loomis to the tune of the REM classic, "Everybody Hurts."
Soundtrack[edit | edit source]
The Legends of the Hidden Temple Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: Groove with the Blue Barracudas was released in 1995 by Warner Bros. Records, hitting #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart for that year. It was reissued by Nick Rewind Records in 2005, as '90s kids had begun to hit teen/college age around that time and Nick wanted to cash-in on their nostalgia.
- "Legends of the Hidden Temple Suite" by John Williams
- "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-A-Lot
- "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly
- "Heart-Shaped Box" by Nirvana
- "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred
- "Shrine of the Silver Monkey" by Michael Jackson
- "Barracuda" by Heart
- "Everybody Hurts" by REM
Video game[edit | edit source]
A Legends of the Hidden Temple: Silver Snakes video game was released in 1994 on the Sega CD. Here, the silver snakes have been transported into space. The game is believed to continue where the movie left off. As with most FMVs games, it was met with poor reception.