When judging a product like this one must take into account where and for whom it was made. This is a typical European adventure flick meant to be seen by the whole family on a weekend outing. This implies it is pretty bloodless, the violence is theatrical and the dialogue is non-shocking. But unlike comparable American B-products, like The Librarian, it is a little more realistic and relies much less on effect. For instance in this film people from different countries all speak different languages and vehicles do not explode when driven over a cliff. There is the stereotypical old legend, but at least there is no magical mystery involved. Apart from that the film clearly has difficulty choosing between a historic or a modern setting and moves back and forth from a costume exposé on the Orient express to using a laptop to solve clues of the riddle to being chased by sword-wielding clansmen on horseback, etc. (The story would have worked much better if it had been set entirely in the interbellum period when the region was in upheaval). The acting is rather overdone in places, as in the roguish boyishness of the protagonist, or the mysteriousness of the blue rider and the love interest is too stuck in sulking mode to display any love chemistry. Still, it was not a bad film,... if it had been released in the 1960s!
Review of High Adventure
