The Ruins crumble
The Ruins
While the trailer was filled with horror, which set expectations high, this movie was surprisingly disappointing and slow.
While vacationing in Mexico, a group of four friends decide to make the best of their last day there by traveling to a remote ancient Mayan temple that has just been discovered. Jeff (Jonathon Tucker), Amy (Jena Malone), Eric (Shawn Ashmore) and Stacey (Laura Ramsey) take the journey to the ruins with two strangers from their resort, Mathias (Joe Anderson), and Dimitri. Upon arrival at the temple, the group expects to find Mathias's brother, and a group of archaeologists, but no one is there. The sudden arrival of hostile Mayan villagers catches the group off guard. The villagers, wielding guns, bows and arrows, will not let the group leave the area. They are forced to climb up the temple ruins to where the archaeological dig and tents are, while the villagers keep watch at the bottom, to ensure that none of them step foot off the temple.
The group is baffled as to where everyone is, even though all of the equipment is still there. Mathias hears a cell phone ringing from the bottom of a pit heading into the temple and sees this as their chance to call for help. Jeff and Eric help lower him down into the pit, but half way down the rope starts to fray, and brakes, sending him falling into the dark unknown. While trying to rescue Mathias, and on a second attempt at finding the cell phone, the group makes a horrifying discovery as to why the villagers are so afraid of the temple, why they won't let them leave and why strange things are happening to them.
The trailer portrays this movie to be very frightening and suspenseful, however, once you find out what is causing the disappearances, the strange noises and the fungi growing on everyone, the movie kind of loses its appeal. There were some scary parts in the movie, but there were also some very gross parts. The Ruins was enjoyable, but overall, kind of disappointing.
This was the first role of Tucker's (Pulse and “The Black Donnellys”) that I have actually liked. Usually he plays a wimpy, insecure guy, who drools in almost every movie he is in, but in this movie, he was normal and assertive, which suited him much better. Fellow Canadian, Ashmore (X-Men 3) was very good in this movie, as was Ramsey (The Covenant). Malone, while she really stood out in her previous works, such as Donnie Darko and Life as a House, this role wasn't anything special. I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys movies with strange occurrences, with surprising explanations.
Final Words: Saw it. Liked it. I need to learn how to drive stick, stat!
While the trailer was filled with horror, which set expectations high, this movie was surprisingly disappointing and slow.
While vacationing in Mexico, a group of four friends decide to make the best of their last day there by traveling to a remote ancient Mayan temple that has just been discovered. Jeff (Jonathon Tucker), Amy (Jena Malone), Eric (Shawn Ashmore) and Stacey (Laura Ramsey) take the journey to the ruins with two strangers from their resort, Mathias (Joe Anderson), and Dimitri. Upon arrival at the temple, the group expects to find Mathias's brother, and a group of archaeologists, but no one is there. The sudden arrival of hostile Mayan villagers catches the group off guard. The villagers, wielding guns, bows and arrows, will not let the group leave the area. They are forced to climb up the temple ruins to where the archaeological dig and tents are, while the villagers keep watch at the bottom, to ensure that none of them step foot off the temple.
The group is baffled as to where everyone is, even though all of the equipment is still there. Mathias hears a cell phone ringing from the bottom of a pit heading into the temple and sees this as their chance to call for help. Jeff and Eric help lower him down into the pit, but half way down the rope starts to fray, and brakes, sending him falling into the dark unknown. While trying to rescue Mathias, and on a second attempt at finding the cell phone, the group makes a horrifying discovery as to why the villagers are so afraid of the temple, why they won't let them leave and why strange things are happening to them.
The trailer portrays this movie to be very frightening and suspenseful, however, once you find out what is causing the disappearances, the strange noises and the fungi growing on everyone, the movie kind of loses its appeal. There were some scary parts in the movie, but there were also some very gross parts. The Ruins was enjoyable, but overall, kind of disappointing.
This was the first role of Tucker's (Pulse and “The Black Donnellys”) that I have actually liked. Usually he plays a wimpy, insecure guy, who drools in almost every movie he is in, but in this movie, he was normal and assertive, which suited him much better. Fellow Canadian, Ashmore (X-Men 3) was very good in this movie, as was Ramsey (The Covenant). Malone, while she really stood out in her previous works, such as Donnie Darko and Life as a House, this role wasn't anything special. I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys movies with strange occurrences, with surprising explanations.
Final Words: Saw it. Liked it. I need to learn how to drive stick, stat!
