The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines

Noah Wyle
Gabrielle Anwar
Bob Newhart
Jane Curtain
Olympia Dukakis

Directed by: Jonathon Frakes


To most people, Librarian Flynn Carsen is a mild mannered librarian. To his co workers and head librarian he is a treasure hunter who uses his vast knowledge of the books in his library to track down artifacts such as Excalibur and Neptune’s Trident. Carsen is a self confessed nerd who in this sequel to the original Librarian film is off to find the hidden mines of King Solomon and the biblical texts hidden within. He meets a fellow adventure hunter and nerd Emily Davenport (Anwar) and they mix romance with the hunt for the centuries old treasure. The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines is a tongue in cheek homage to pulp action heroes like Alan Quatermaine and is reminiscent of more recent films adventure films like Indiana Jones and Sahara. The Librarian mixes the swashbuckling action and mystery tied together with some slapstick and PG rated humor.

This little TV movie has great cast of characters. Bob Newhart reminds you of his younger days as a psychologist or owner of a bed and breakfast. His awkward, muttering, unsure comedic approach works perfectly in this film. Jane Curtain will remind viewers of her days on 3rd Rock From the Sun. Unfortunately, both actors aren’t in this film enough and the brunt of the work is left in the hands of Noah Wylie. While he is able to carry the action of the film as an adventurer and the chemistry between himself and Gabrielle Anwar, he is really no match comedically for the seasoned veterans around him. His comedy scenes are a little awkward and you can almost see him shrink just a little bit. These scenes are pretty rare in the film and really aren’t a big distraction though.

The one drawback of this film is that is feels like a TV movie. The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines could have been a spectacle movie with broad action scenes and a big movie feel. The restrictive budget and limited release of this film makes you painfully aware throughout the film that although you are supposed to be watching a grand adventure film you are actually watching a low budget made for TV movie. With subpar CG, confining and badly designed sets, and a script that probably needed a little pumping, this could have been a pretty good theatrical release. It seems that Hollywood could use a few good pulpy action adventure movies in its release slate. Plus, none of that can really be held against the movie. The finished product came out well given its restraints.

The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines is a made for TV film that really works to bring back some of the fun of those old adventured movies all while bringing a bit of family friendly fun along the way.
 

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