I reviewed the first of these two movies last week, so if you followed my blog, you might have figured that the review for the second movie would not be far behind.
The Jewel of the Nile sees the return of Michael Douglas as Jack Colton, and Kathleen Turner as Joan Wilder, the famous novelist.
Like Romancing the Stone, this one opens with a story from a book that she is writing, however, it is not the ending, like in that first one. Here, she seems to be struggling, and cannot seem to focus or to breathe life into the novel. She is going through some kind of a mental block of some sort, and we see her story rudely interrupted by the voice of the real Jack Colton, water skiing in the Mediterranean, snapping her back solidly into the present.
We are made to understand that she is frustrated by her writing (or rather, her lack of solid writing and all of the creeping doubts that go along with this). She has a function later that evening, which seems the first real contact that this couple have had in a long time, in honor of her latest book release.
Joan is approached by a very mysterious, and obviously rich and powerful, figure: a sheik from a North African kingdom, of which he is the king. This man is a big fan of the work of Joan Wilder. He wants her to write a book on him and his kingdom, presumably to put the nation on the map in the imaginations of most. What she does not yet know, perhaps cannot yet know, is just how corrupt he is. But she will find out soon enough, of course.
Jack, in the meantime, had stepped away through all of this. When he manages to get her alone to speak with her, he finds her heart is set o this project, which she apparently feels just might be the kick start that gets her writing career going again. But he is enjoying the high life, raveling the world on their boat, and his heart is set on further exploration - particularly to Greece.
So, just like that, the couple seems to have reached the end of the road together as a couple. They part, but both seem to regret it.
Joan goes off to the desert nation, while Jack drives back to where his boat is anchored. But then he is approached by two men. First, by Ralph (again played by Danny Devito), where we learn that he has spent the previous months inside of a Columbian jail, getting abused by ill-willed fellow inmates, and where the only thought that passed through his head was of revenge on Jack Colton.
Just as he pulls a gun and is about to do some damage, the other man saves Jack. This man is a native of the African kingdom that Joan has been taken to, and he insists that Jack come to the nation, since he has already been invited to the royal palace by the king. He is told that the king has stolen "The Jewel of the Nile", and that Jack needs to help the people retrieve this jewel back to the people, where it belongs.
Jack is skeptical, but during this conversation, the boat blows up - apparently the work of the corrupt king. So, Jack really has no choice anymore. Ralph, who has hit bottom and just wants the opportunity to do something to make money, feels that Jack owes him, and so he forces Jack to accept taking him along for the ride.
So, we visit this nation, and find Joan feeling excited initially about the opportunity. Yet, there seem to be a few things that seem out of place, and the king seems less than forthcoming. Once she enters the palace, which outwardly, upon frst glance, seems like the paradise that she might have envisioned it to be, she hears a man screaming, but when asked about it, the king shrugs it off and remains aloof. He invites her to go anywhere, talk to anybody, and so on. Complete freedom, and so she seems once again, assured. But once again, this feeling will not last long.
Jack and Ralph, in the meantime, have made it to the kingdom, as well. They are with the tribe of the man that approached Jack in the first place.
***SPOILER ALERT***
Soon enough, Joan finds out the truth on her own, while exploring the city. She sees the police relentlessly chasing someone, and preparing to give a beating of some severity, when she chases after them to try and stop them. Instead, she finds an even harsher response then she imagined, and there are machine guns that seem to indiscriminately fire upon anyone on the scene. She sees writing on the wall - the source of the crime that the police are after - and it implies that the king has stolen "The Jewel of the Nile", and that he must return it to restore justice. This is the first that she has heard of it, and by now, she understands that the king's own role in ruling the nation is not as innocent and benevolent as he made it out to be. In fact, he is a tyrant.
Jack along with Ralph, in the meantime, has tried to get into the palace. When he meets resistance, he pretends to be on an important and official trip with the blessings of the American Embassy, yet they are still denied entry. When they insist, the guns are pointed at them, and they are forced to back off.
Joan, in the meantime, is thrown in a jail cell by the king, for her seeming subordination. It is now that she begins to understand that he is a full blown tyrant, and that she never should have gone on this trip. She is not alone in her jail cell. She finds a man imprisoned, as well. This is a special man, and she soon finds out that he is, in fact, the legendary "Jewel of the Nile". So, the jewel is not an actual, literal jewel at all, but a living, breathing human being.
Joan wants out. She wants to make an escape, assuming that something horrible is going to happen to her. Hardly anyone knows that she is here, and nobody knows that she is now stranded and virtually powerless in a faraway, foreign land.
They then happen upon Joan, who is trying to make some escape of her own. Of course, they save her, and Jack and Joan are reunited.
Yet, they are pursued. By now, the king has essentially dropped all pretense of civility, and goes after Joan and Jack.
Of course, they manage a great and daring escape, by finding the greatest weapon in the tiny nation's military arsenal: a high speed jet. They are unable to fly, but they manage to find their way out of the city.
They manage to escape, ultimately, although it is not without incident. When they manage to make a break for it in the desert, Joan remains attached to the idea of returning "The Jewel" to the people. Jack, still misunderstanding, sees Joan gravitating away from him in favor of yet another Middle Eastern man. He decides to go his own way, while Joan and the Jewel go another. But eventually, circumstances force Jack to run back to them, when he ends up being chased by the army, led by the king, who by now has a desire for personal vengeance.
They wind up in a canal, surrounded on both sides by sheer cliff walls. But they take a chance, and climb up. In the process, the King, now livid, aims a bazooka at them, desiring to kill them. he misses, but instead gets much of his own war machinery, thus limiting his own ability to catch them more than it already was.
Of course, the group makes their escape. They are taken by a local tribe, and thus are saved from the pursuing army, only to find themselves in a compromising position amongst the tribe. Jack has to fight the biggest, strongest man in the tribe, who wants to get with Joan. He takes a beating, but manages, eventually, to win.
Eventually, they leave the tribe, but are quickly captured by the king and his forces, and then imprisoned, left for the dead.
But they find a way to make an escape (of course) and manage to escape, only to find themselves in the midst of a public rally by the king, which is full of propaganda, and bears some similarities to the mindless, brainwashing propaganda of a Nazi party rally. It takes some daring-do, but they find their way out of this one, too, with jack once again saving Joan from almost certain death. The king/dictator was about to attack Joan, and had just finished asking her who is going to save her now, when Jack, assisted by Ralph, comes out of nowhere while riding on a crane, and manages to kick the king off from the top of the wall, to his death.
Not a bad movie, although it also retains that very eighties feel to it. If you are looking for something like Indiana Jones, this movie will not be for you. But if you take it on it's own merits, and are open to the humor that is pronounced throughout, it can be a very enjoyable film, and I would recommend it on it's own merits, as a lighthearted movie to entertain for a couple of hours.
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