The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box
Welcome to What Did I Just Watch where I watch movies so you don't have to and then I tell you what I think.
Today's selection is The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box.
Aneurin Barnard as Mariah Mundi
Michael Sheen as Captain Will Charity
Lena Heady as Monica
Sam Neill as Otto Lugar
Ioan Gruffud as Charles Mundi
Keeley Hawes as Catherine Mundi
Xavier Atkins as Felix Mundi
Mella Carron as Sacha
👀 Stream on Xumo Play, Amazon Prime Streaming, Hoopla (through your local library)
💲 Buy the DVD on Amazon
🎬 Watch the trailer on YouTube
🍅 5.5/10 on IMDb; 20% on Rotten Tomatoes; 3.8/5 on Movie Insider
This is a 2014 fantasy adventure film set in a fictional Victorian England. The year is never really said, but judging by the clothing worn by the female characters, I would say probably in the 1880s, which is where the majority of Victorian films take place.
Directed by Jonathan Newman (Being Considered; Teeth; Swinging with the Finkels, etc), The Adventurer: Cures of the Midas Box was meant to be the first in a film series and it is painfully obvious as the movie goes on. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie, but it was clear that there were meant to be more of them.
Our film opens with Michael Sheen's character, Captain Will Charity, chasing down our antagonist, Otto Luger (Sam Neill) who has uncovered the map revealing the location of the fabled Midas Box, an artifact, that according to legend, could turn anything placed into it into gold, which would create massive wealth. To facilitate his escape, Luger sets explosives, but before able to make his exit, Charity manages to pocket an amulet from Luger. The explosives go off, separating the two men. At some point during this time, Charity is wounded, though I am not really sure when because I don't remember seeing it happen.
Our scene changes to that of the British Museum in London, where a lecture is taking place much to the chagrin of the younger of two brothers, Felix Mundi (Xavier Atkins), who is nodding off in the background. His older brother elbows him awake, attempting to get him to pay attention to the lecture, which we learn is being given by their father, Charles (Ioan Gruffud), but instead of doing so, Felix disappears from the lecture hall. Mariah Mundi (Aneurin Barnard), the older brother, goes after him, finding himself in what appears to be a display hall where the Rosetta Stone is just sitting there where anyone could knock it off the platform. It's clearly a fantastical version of the British Museum because at no time would something as important as the Rosetta Stone be sitting around with no guard and no barrier.
Mariah is looking for his brother, when he is surprised by a man that he has never met before, who starts talking to him about the Stone. It is clear before long that the man clearly knows him and his father. This is referred to briefly before he reveals that he is wounded and collapses.
Within moments, he was laid out on a table with Charles Mundi and his wife, Catherine Mundi (Keeley Hawes) leaning over him. Charles was attempting to do something for his wound, while Charity was making eyes at Catherine. It is clear from this scene that there were some affections in their past, but she chose Charles over Charity. I couldn't really tell if it was noticed by Charles that Charity was making eyes at Catherine. Part of me wonders if it was more of a "I won her heart, so I'm not worried about you.", but I really couldn't tell.
Charity stressed to them that Luger was on the trail of the Midas Box and that something needed to be done. The Mundi parents decide that they need to go and take care of this, but before they do, Catherine handed over half of the blue amulet. I didn't notice that she had given the amulet to both of her sons, only to Mariah. She also whispers the following to Felix: "Faithlessness will be your shield, though a thousand may fall and hide, but no evil shall ever come near you with gold at you side." When she said this in the moment, I had a really hard time understanding what she was saying, but with the subtitles, I caught it. It is clearly referencing the Midas Box, but otherwise, it doesn't really make a lot of sense in the moment.
Almost immediate, Charles and Catherine were kidnapped. We assume by Luger and his henchmen. Mariah takes his little brother and flees into the streets. I didn't really understand this part. It seemed rather odd for him to just run into the streets, become dirty and ragged and immediately get berated by a constable when asking for help. Yes, the constables were not really that helpful, but I don't see this as being very faithful to the actual way things worked out. But, I do understand that this was meant to show the hopelessness of the situation.
It was at this point that I was kinda getting disappointed. Not that the movie wasn't fun and engaging, but when I saw Ioan Gruffud's name fairly early on in the credits at the beginning of the movie, I was excited. Ever since I saw him in Forever (ABC TV Series that only lasted one season), I have really enjoyed his performances. But to only have him on screen for maybe five minutes and no more, it was sad. Ok. Anyway....
Felix steals some food from a stall, the seller not noticing at all, even though he was starting at Felix, who was also facing him while he was eating. He didn't notice at all until Mariah hissed something at him. Suddenly, the seller notices and chaos ensues. The boys are grabbed by the police, one of the constables looked just like the one that turned them away beforehand. They are tossed into a police van and hauled away. There is no trial for stealing, no talking to anyone in authority, nothing. Instead, they are taken to a place that isn't a jail, isn't a borstal, or a workhouse. I can't really tell what the place way, but several others are here, all lined up and being berated by someone in authority.
It seems like the boys, all troubled children, except for our heroes, are being picked to go to different locations, possibly like farmhands or something. It's not really stated. We do, however, see two of Luger's henchmen show up to take the boys away, probably so that Luger can get the two halves of the amulet. Here is my question: if these boys were arrested and taken by police van to be put into some sort of work situation, why do all of them still have their possessions? Wouldn't the police have taken those things away from them? They are all still in their clothes. They all have their hats and coats. The two heroes still have their amulets. It doesn't really make any sense, except for the thugs to be looking for them to get the amulets.
Will Charity makes an appearance to save the boys, but he is too late to save Felix, who gets shoveled into the police van which is then stolen by the two thugs. Will and Mariah book it out of there, though Mariah wants to go after Felix. Will won't let him, instead Mariah is told that he has to go after Luger and get the Midas Box. I thought that this was such an odd thing. I guess, somewhere along the lines, it makes sense for the story, but why would a man who works for a secret organization, which at this point, I don't believe, has been named, send a young man, teenager maybe, off into the face of danger. It's all for the story.
Will hands Mariah some papers and tells him that it has been arranged for him to work at Prince Regent's Hotel as a porter. I don't recall that this reason is explained anywhere. It is assumed that you as the viewer can determine that this has something to do with Luger, but it's not explained. One would assume that this hotel, The Prince Regent's Hotel, would be in London, as the actual hotel with this name is in Weymouth, but no...it's not. It is instead on a desolate island in the North Sea, with the ship sailing away from the coast of Scotland. The map on the screen shows you departing from Aberdeen and heading into the North Sea. Putting a fancy hotel on an island in the North Sea seems rather silly. No one in their right mind would book passage on a ship to go spend time at this hotel in an inhospitable part of the sea. But, no, so many very wealthy looking people are departing from the docks and making their way to the hotel, which is absolutely beautiful, but looks nothing like a hotel.
Inside, it is luxurious and well appointed with a full staff, but you really don't get to see much beyond this part, as it is instead focusing on Mariah's arrival. He gets chastised for entering through the front and is taken away to be fitted for his uniform. This also makes no sense. No one coming into a working establishment is going to have a uniform made to his specifications, which is exactly what is shown. Mariah is led into a room with a bunch of young woman "sewing". I put this in quotes because that is not what is happening. They are shown working at treadle machines, running fabric until the presser foot in a rapid manner. This is not how these machines work. A little research would have shown that. A treadle machine requires foot movements, and that is not shown. She is sitting stock still. At one point when she stops sewing, she does sit back down and move the wheel at the side of the machine to start it back moving, but she doesn't not accompany that with the movement of the treadle foot plate. Another time, she sits back down and just starts sewing. And the sewing, as such as it is, is a flat piece of fabric. A square, flat piece of fabric. She isn't sewing a seam or a hem. She is running the fabric down the middle, under the presser foot. With no thread. As a seamstress and a costumer, this is really off-putting. But that's just me. On with the show...
Magically, Mariah has his new uniform, which is not something a young woman working in a room with a treadle machine is going to make as this is the job of a tailor, but once again, I digress. And now properly dressed he begins his job, but he really doesn't. He doesn't really ever actually work. And I know that he's supposed to be looking for the Midas Box, but wouldn't it be wise to blend in and actually work? He meets and befriends a young woman named Sacha (Mella Carron) who is the one who was sewing earlier, but also works in the kitchen? That isn't how domestic service works, but this is a fantasy, so anyway, she tells him about the Beast, who supposedly has stolen all of the children from the island, all 12 of them. It seems like this legend was created by Luger to keep people from looking for the kids, who we learn in a while, are working some giant machine under the hotel. I still don't know what that machine is supposed to do. I think that Sacha tries to explain that, but it didn't make any sense.
Mariah manages to enlist her help to look for his brother, and assumedly clues about the island itself, which she reluctantly does. They find a large image on a wall of a tree emerging from a box. Mariah immediately knows that this is talking about the Midas Box, and for some reason it seems that Sacha does, too. Though it could have just been her agreeing with him. She decides that she doesn't want to be involved with any of this and storms off. I really couldn't figure out why she kept talking to him id she doesn't want anything to do with him. But then again, he keeps pestering her, so I figure she finally gave him. They discover that the elevator seems to go somewhere with Luger in it, but he never comes back the same way. I still don't understand this part. Why isn't it just that he goes up and stays somewhere for a while, then maybe comes back down by a different staircase. It's odd. Anyway, this prompts the two of them to head up the elevator, which comes to a stop at the top. Mariah pries the door open, revealing a concrete block wall. Which....another issue I have with some of this movie, concrete blocks didn't exist at this time in English history. Yes, it's a fantastical world, but still, maybe just use plain stone. Back to the story - while standing in the elevator, Mariah looks around for something to press or pull or something to activate a different exit from the elevator, which he does. He looks at something on the wall that looks like a trigger, but instead pushes a part of the wall, which opens a door behind him leading to Luger's secret office.
This office is filled with all kinds of artifacts that Luger had stolen. We only know this because Sacha picks up a pair of glasses that show their footsteps for a moment before they disappear. Mariah finds a golden suit of armor that he says belonged to Constantine. Gold armor would be so insanely ineffective since it is such a soft metal, so clearly this must also be enchanted somehow. Sacha finds an entry in Luger's diary talking about the Midas Box, which reveals that it is actually a weapon of doom, so now we know that there is a bigger reason as to why they need to find the box.
Hearing someone coming, they escape through a secret passage and somehow end up in the ocean. In the North Sea. In shirtsleeves. Different shirtsleeves. Somehow, between jumping and surfacing from the water, they changed clothes. Sacha's hair is now down. Not pulled down from the tightly wound bun, but just handing loose and free. She storms off again and leaves him alone.
We are now introduced to the great magician Bismillah. I don't remember his name ever being mentioned in the movie. I found it in an article about the movie. He is a large Russian sounding man (apparently actually Transylvanian, but I don't recall that being noted either), wearing an inordinate amount of black leather and bare skin. There is a scene with him showing off his prowess as a magician, escaping from a watery death. A man from the audience counts down at his request, saying that he can only hold his breath for up to 2 minutes. Somehow, Mariah ends up helping him with this, which I don't know why or how that happens. But this magician enlists Mariah to assist him, which, once again, keeps him from doing his porter duties. And Luger is in the audience, watching this, not saying anything about him not doing his actual job.
We've already been introduced to Monica Black, one of Luger's hench...people...who also works in the hotel as, maybe, the matron over the staff, but here she pounces on Mariah because she is suspicious of him as he doesn't ever seem to work. She finds the amulet on him, gets really excited that she will be able to turn him over to her boss, but instead gets whacked on the head by Bismallah....who is Charity in disguise. I knew that this was coming. The character made no sense in the grand scheme of things, especially with the attention he was paying Mariah. But, it's a little jarring in the reveal. He takes off all of this makeup and prosthetics, revealing his face, but somehow he also seems to get shorter. Bismallah was well over 6 feet tall and now Charity is shorter than that. That's an effect, I tell ya.
Charity tells Mariah that he believes that Luger has disposed of his parents somewhere. There is a point where Luger is talking to Catherine who is tied up in a train car somewhere. Also Mariah is told that his father's wallet was found lying on a bridge in London. It is assumed that they are both probably dead at this point, but it is also alluded to that they will be searched out.
Mariah makes his way into the surrounding forest with Sacha in tow, which I still am not sure why he does this, or what reason he has for it, but he does. I can only assume that Charity said something about the beast and he thought it was a good idea to go. Anyway, he goes out into the forest and what does he run across...? Not the beast, but instead his brother Felix roaming around the forest looking completely dazed. It was clear that he was tired and probably hungry, but to just accidentally run into him out in the forest was kinda of weird. It would have made more sense for Mariah to run into him in the basement of the hotel, somewhere near that weird machine. But, he finds him and they are reunited. He learns that the beast is not really a legend of a mystical creature haunting the forest, but instead the machine down under the hotel and the ghosts that were talked about (ghosts? talked about? When?) are actually slave children being used to dig for the box.
This particular part all really seemed like it was a convenient way to get that information across and to reunite the characters and give Felix some reason to be there. But for some reason, their reunion is cut short and Mariah and Sacha return to the hotel, leaving Felix alone, assumedly to return to the machine. Mariah finds the entrance to the mine. I don't even known how he found the entrance. I don't remember that being told to us, but he did. And he finds Felix, again, and frees him. They take off in a different direction in the mine, looking for the Midas Box, when Mariah's part of the amulet begins to glow. It's at this point, you realize that Mariah has managed through all of this, to keep a hold of his part of the amulet, while Felix's was taken from him, likely by Luger.
The glowing amulet leads them to a door in the stone wall where it is assumed that the Midas Box is hidden. Luger appears, holding Sacha hostage and demands that they retrieve the box. The brothers obey and enter the room, using the amulet as a key. Mariah gives the box to Luger, leaving Felix in the room, who accidentally springs a trap that drops the door and begins to flood the room. But with as fast as they show the room flooding, it would take no time for it to fill up, but a lot happens in the mean time. And I know it's meant to show what's happening to both of them in a more of a real time scenario, but it just doesn't flow well.
Sacha's father, who we were introduced to for few minutes earlier on and is a a drunk and a terrible person, shows up, for some reason and begs Sacha's forgiveness and cries about how awful things are and how much he loves her, then throws himself at Monica, who'd kidnapped the kids and Sacha and was marching them through the machine room. They fall into the machine and are killed, leaving Sacha stunned and left to help these children.
While that happens, Mariah takes off after Luger who uses the amulet to turn the Midas Box into a weapon. A weapon. It just magically turns and shifts itself into a gun looking creation, which Luger then uses to shoot at the Bureau men who have appeared to rescue Mariah and the others. These Bureau men are the people that Mariah's parents worked with and who Charity works with. It's not really 100% clear on that fact, but it's easy enough to figure out.
Around this time Mariah realizes that the saying his mother told Felix was about the ability of gold to absorb the powers of the box. This makes the gold suit of armor make sense.
It's here that I get confused. I don't remember Mariah putting on the suit of armor and wearing it to confront Luger. I don't remember the machine rolling towards a precipice. I don't remember Luger telling Mariah that his parents are still alive. I do remember Luger getting disintegrated by the Midas Box now Gun Weapon thing, but I don't remember how it happened.
I have no explanation for that part. I don't know why I blacked out in the part, but maybe I was just getting too overwhelmed by the confusion. But I do remember the next part.
The camera pans to Felix who is now pressed up against a grate in the room, which is completely flooded. This really doesn't make a lot of sense, because the water shouldn't come that close to the grate. It just didn't make sense. But anyway, it's clear that it's took late for him. Mariah gets the door open again and water comes flowing out, bringing Felix's body with it. Mariah begs him to come back and begins to cry. Miraculously, Felix starts to cough and wakes up.
A while later, the three kids, Mariah, Felix and Sacha are all awarded Bureau badges and told that they would be called on to work for them again in the future. Mariah and Sacha have a smooch, confessing that they care for each other, which is so weird because she had no interested in him at all just about half an hour before.
Charity leaves to go search for Mariah's parents, but promises to return.
And there ya go. That's the movie. It was so clear that this was meant to be a series of movies, or maybe even a lead up to a TV show, but it never materialized. I read that it was intended to be a franchise but the reception was poor. It was noted as being "an OK time filler for undiscriminating younger audiences, providing some hope that future developments might yield greater payoffs." (Film Review, Wikipedia). IndieWire said that the film was "'dull', citing poor writing, but praising Lena Headey". (IndieWire) It was panned by other reviewers as well.
Personally, I thought the movie was fine. It was disjointed and confusing in places, but it was a fun romp and was definitely a good intro for younger viewers to jump into adventure movies. There was no sex, no real violence (yes, people get disintegrated by the weapon, but they are turned to dust and that's all), no over the top action and no foul language.
I recommend it if you find it in your feed and want something to take up some time while you are doing something else. But, I don't really think it's worth seeking out.
Just I remember, I watched this, so you didn't have to. See ya next time!
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