LITERAL REMAINS

Written by Scott Smith (based on his book)

Two young couples on a Mexican vacation make friends with a German tourist. The German’s brother has not returned from a private archeological site, so the two couples go with their new friend to find his brother. At the secluded site, local villagers hold the tourists at gun point and make them climb the ancient ruins and will not let them leave, employing deadly force to make them stay. What follows should have been better.

Hampered by bland direction, The Ruins, based on Scott Smith’s excellent novel, is one of an increasing number of films that starts interestingly then just falls apart as the minutes tick agonizingly by. The cast is good, the script is decent, but the viewer has no investment in the characters and you just wait on them to be picked off. The suspense that is generated quickly dies after the menace is revealed, thanks in part to some not really good, but not too bad, special effects.

It becomes so run of the mill, the whole thing dies on the vine. Read the book instead.

The movie: 2.5 out of 5
The book: 5 out of 5

the_novacula