Crossworlds (1997)

Very well executed

Good start, but then it gets ruined

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The first time I saw this movie it was on late night TV a few years ago. I've heard it was a low budget made for SyFy movie originally . . . if so, this was one of their few successes.Basically, it's a story about a college student who is dragged out of his normal life because of his dead father, an Indiana Jones clone you see briefly. Joe becomes entangled in the search for the pieces of an ancient staff and he finds that the pendant he wears has powers that can cross worlds.Rutger Hauer and Josh Charles (both favorites of mine) put in solid performances. Jack Black plays well in a pre-fame role as drunken buddy, and Andrea Roth as the eye-candy is decent enough. I love the use of older vehicles in the film . . . they used some real relics.Three things really make this movie work for me: 1) Stuart Wilson, a veteran actor, shines as Ferris; 2) The soundtrack is one of the first of Christophe Beck, a Canadian composer who has composed the music for A list movies over the last ten or fifteen years; and 3) the visual effects are very good, and they allow you to immerse yourselves in the story.I hope this helps anyone looking for a good fantasy/sci-fi film.

It was as if this regular College Student that just happens to live in an apartment Filled with what is thought to be every college kid's stuff and drives an ancient classic car is going to make a great Sci-Fi. It was as if there was some group of assistants who went to the "College Stereotypical Apartment Hardware Store" and filled this guy's room. Even Mom calling on the answering machine was "stereotypical" with the parking tickets. It is really Lame. Low-Budget or not - trying to make the Every Day Guy in college out of an obvious Super Rich Kid by clouding the story with such crap is offensive. Kid's in College don't live like this. The Party? maybe so. Dancing Babes - most "babes" are every day girls - not "Too Sexy for my Tube Dress" types. Beer cans against the forehead? Way past the 1970s. So it was hard to get past the first few minutes. But I held on - the best I could hoping things would jump into a serious movie rather than a Teenage Boy movie.After the 'proverbial' duster coat worn by Hauer and the really cute mini-shirt by the babe - the movie finally moves on about 30 minutes into the drawn-out story. It is always amazing to me that all the ingredients to these supernatural legends just happen to be Local - in that the staff and the amulet just happen to be in the same town in good ole USA. But it is a Sci-Fi. 32 Minutes into was the understatement of the entire movie - by the babe: "It will be over soon." OK...scenario... You get the key to 'whatever.' And you give it back without question to the person you got it from. Then the key gets stolen from that person who has no idea of its value. Who's the fool in this case. Why give the stone/amulet back to the kid when he has no idea what he's up against. This constitutes a major error in the scripting of this film.Script writing, to me, is even more important than directing. The direction is obvious with a well written script as opposed to visa-versa. When words like "butthole" or "asswipe" are used by the actors, it was surely scripted. And therefore quite Cheap. I don't mean to expect Shakespeare quotes, but as I said = = this is a Teenage Boy Flick. But then "it isn't easy doing business with Morons."It all turns out that Any college kid with a reasonable desire for cute blondes and a "mom-ma's boy" could have pulled this movie off - in its writing. I don't understand Hauer's desire to go from fame to insignificant so easily. Perhaps he had some outstanding traffic tickets. But Rutger Hauer? In this tripe movie? Amazing.

i recently saw the movie on cable and I was wondering what similarities were there between this movie and the MatrixYou have got Jo or Joseph like NeoYou have got A. T. like Morpheausand you have got the girl like Trinity.Even the villains move around in suits like those in Matrixand all that talk in the elevator where A.T. says that the floor is still there and what they are seeing was all deja vu like in the MatrixWould not be surprised if the Wachowski Brothers had seen this and been 'inspired'

I was very, very anxious to see CrossWorlds. I'm a huge fan of Josh Charles, a huge sci-fi fan and I had seen the trailer from this site, which absolutely blew me away. After looking at my local mall, video store, and two more video stores I finally found a copy. I rushed home and put it in my VCR that night."CrossWorlds" is a good movie. I wouldn't compare it to "Glory" or other Josh Charles classics like "Sports Night" but it's one of those movies that you can come away from feeling like you made a good choice. It's a movie you'll want to watch again, the kind of movie you'd buy just to pull out once in a while. In particular, the acting performances and the abstract way of looking at things made this movie.The plot was a little diffuse - the first time I watched it, I got to about halfway through and then lost my mind. I had to watch a second time to understand it. Josh Charles makes a surprisingly good action hero with his skill and sarcasm; Rutger Hauer makes a fine mentor. Andrea Roth and Stuart Wilson could have been better, the ending could have been better too (way obvious). CrossWorlds leaves a lot of things up to the viewer which is great. It packs cool action and fun. If you want a movie you can enjoy without having to be thrown a moral or emotional appeal, this is it.Just be sure to skip the tedious, unexplained, worthless sequence of the opening credits.