The Errol Flynn Blog

I saw this recently, before reading both MWWW and Beam Ends and tbh, I found it very tacky and cheesy. It felt low budget and the characters, especially the villains were very over the top and caricature-ish. It also didn’t help that they had a stock Quint from Jaws as one of the traveller’s. I am often generous with ratings so on first viewing, I gave it a 4/10.

After having read MWWW and part of Beam Ends, I rewatched it, and found it not to be as bad as I thought. The villains were still weak, Shaw look alike was still poorly done, and there were deviations from the novel which I wouldn’t necessarily have a problem with but it was just not handled that well imo. A review said that they tried to insert a caricaturish girl boss which sunk the film. I have to agree.

I feel like if they had made this into a coming of age story, with 4 young friends, it would’ve worked better. This may have been handled better if it was written and made back in the 80s and 90s I think. But with today’s climate, even 6 years ago, it’s hard to avoid inserting whatever the current fad is into an age ol tale between friends. The book reminds me somewhat of Stealing Home (1988), Breaking Away (1979), or Coupe de Ville (1990), a nostalgia for the passing or loss of youth and freedom that entails. As a book it also reminded me a bit of June Juanico’s In the Twilight of Memory, about the Summer of ’56 Romance with Elvis Presley. The ability to immerse you in that time period and place is a gift.

It’s sad that the potential is there but instead it was made into a b grade, made for TV film Ala Relic Hunter. But strangely enough, it got better for me on 2nd viewing and after reading the first and midway through BE, I now rate it a 6/10, lol. I don’t like giving bad rating guys. And what’s even stranger, now that I finished BE, I feel rather sad and nostalgic and have an urge to rewatch it a 3rd time. All this rewatching within a 2 week period.