The Jewel of the Nile: Review By slysnide

In light of the unexpected success of the predecessor "Romancing The Stone" (1984), a sequel was demanded by fans and studio insiders for Christmas 1985. That demand was met by director Lewis Teague and producer Michael Douglas. However Diane Thomas who penned the original was busy screenwriting Steven Spielberg's "Always" (1989) and couldn't pen the sequel, but she gave many pointers and bits of advice on the chosen screenplay by Mark Rosenthal & Lawrence Konner, whom went to Michael Douglas with their idea, and upon saying the title lost Douglas' interest in the project, until that is they mentioned that the Jewel of the Nile was not a jewel at all, but a renowned holy man. And with that, the screenplay was written, and the film put into pre-production quickly.

Because of possible controversy over the film's silly plot--which was typical of certain romance novels--no specific real country was named for where the film takes place. Only that it resides somewhere in North Africa, though is along the Nile River which oddly enough isn't even featured in the film despite being in the title. But all of the North African sequences were filmed on location in Morocco where Michael Douglas got himself, Danny DeVito, and Kathleen Turner unenviable concrete rooms with water only available for 2hrs a day at a palace while the crew stayed at a nice motel down the hill with a/c, a big pool, and soft beds. lolz.

This time around, Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) & Jack Colton (Michael Douglas) have been sailing around the world on the 'Angelina' for six months, and now find themselves in southern Spain where Joan is making a publicity appearance to promote her new romance novel. However having been with Jack for six months, she's no longer optimistic about the 'happily ever after' endings to all of her romance novels, and is suffering from writer's block. Then a mysterious North African ruler named Omar (Spiros Focus) offers her a chance to write a biography on him to boost his popularity. Of course he comes on to Joan like McDreamy and is just like the powerful guy that supposedly sweeps the damsel away in such romances, only to turn out to be an evil dictator, which is evident quickly. Ralph (Danny DeVito) however has escaped Cartagena jail and has confronted Jack for revenge. Jack of course didn't join Joan on her trip with McDreamy, but when the 'Angelina' is bombed by Omar for no apparent reason, he agrees to accompany Ralph on a journey to Northern Africa to save Joan and both remove Omar from power and retrieve the Jewel of the Nile which he stole from the people, or so says assassin Tarak (Paul David Magid). The rest of the film follows the trio's attempts to save Joan, the Jewel, and to make it to Kadir where Omar intends to proclaim his malicious intentions for neighboring countries.

Joan meanwhile meets the Jewel of the Nile, nicknamed Joe (Avner Eisenberg) when she's held captive for refusing to write Omar's biography having quickly learned his intentions. {Avner was a clown from New York when hired for the role}. The Jewel is funny, and inept at understanding relationship issues, as Joan & Jack go through tumultuous developments in the story. But the fact that all the people follow his ways gives him the power to denounce Omar, which he would, making him a threat to Omar's dictatorship, no matter how innocent and funny he really is.

What's great though is how Ralph tries to integrate with Tarak's fellow rebels in order to partake in a reward if he returns the Jewel to them safely, not knowing of course that the Jewel is their holy man, and not an actual pawnable jewel. Several sequences of Ralph partaking in the attempt to save the jewel along with Tarak are hilarious, as Jack gets separated from him in an attempt to save Joan. Of course the greedy spirit of Ralph is always there, but he's also good at hiding it among the Sufis [rebels]. And the ululating by the Sufis upon seeing the Jewel ride the train peacefully among swordfights enhances the comedy and adventurous aspects of the film. For McDreamy-uh I mean, Omar is the only real romantic novel element in the film, as the rest is what most sequels to romantic movies are: a constant bickering couple caught up in another misadventure.

The Flying Karamazov Brothers also co-star as members of Tarak's rebel group--Tarak being one of them. They provide great stunt work and are semi-comedic in the film. But they didn't get much screen time in the climax as I was expecting. And on that note, the climax was more special effects oriented than adventure oriented. But it fit the over the top plot that only a romance novel could pull off nicely--even though this wasn't based on a romantic novel. lolz.

Unlike the previous film, production wasn't as bad given the weather, but going from tropical Columbian rainforest to squeltering hot desert wasn't the best either. Plus a massive rainstorm swept away a big set for the climax which had to be rebuilt. But overall, it was more fun to make for cast and crew alike.

In the end, it was well liked by fans & critics, and to me was just as good in a different way. Even the F-16 action scene was a great substitute for the pickup chase in the original! Michael Douglas even bought Diane Thomas a brand new red Porsche in thanks for her participation in the two movies, but about three weeks later on October 21st 1985, her stuntman boyfriend crashed it into a telephone pole on Pacific Coast Highway while intoxicated, killer her instantly. Because of this, the already planned threequel 'Crimson Eagle' was scrapped, but a now new threequel 'Racing The Monsoon' is apparently currently in pre-production.

Overall, I liked both films equally, and so did the fans as it made $96,973,200 worldwide. The desert trek, train fight, F-16 escape, the special effects laden climax, and Ralph's extra screen time were excellent. But the original will always be more favored by most fans as this sequel which featured less romantic novel tie-ins. But that didn't diminish the action/adventure comedy that this was. It was just different, but still great all the same.