The Librarian: Quest For The Spear Review

When I saw the title The Librarian: Quest for the Spear, I assumed this TV movie would be pretty lame.  However there was nothing else on at 6 AM this morning and I knew I wasn't falling back asleep so I gave it a try.  I was pleasantly surprised to find this movie much more interesting than it sounds.

The Plot
A librarian, Flynn, has been given the job he never expected.  He learns that his newest job is not just to protect the books, but to protect many magical artifacts.  The library contains things like King Aurthur's Sword, Pandora's Box, and other things spoken of only in myth.  Then the unthinkable happens when the Spear of Destiny is stolen from the library.  It turns out this was the sword used to cut Jesus when he was hung on the cross. 

The Spear can be used to rule the world by the evil people who stole it.  Fortunately, the Spear was separated into 3 pieces years ago and the magical powers cannot be used without the other 2.  Unfortunately, this librarian has just been tasked with trying to read the clue book written in an ancient language and go out and retrieve the other 2 pieces before the theives do.

My Thoughts
It's impossible to discuss this movie without comparing it to National Treasure or Tomb Raider.  It is full of the same fantasy, adventure and of course treasure hunting!  Sure it doesn't have any huge name stars, that's why it's on TV instead of in the theater.  Even so, I thought the special effects and adventure were still comparable to those two movies.

The movie stars Noah Wyle as the librarian who is a real nerd who gets so excited about learning new facts.  He was a fun character and believable in the part since he was able to be somewhat nerdy yet still appear strong and able to fight.  While Noah plays the brains, Sonya Walger plays the muscle and comes in as Noah's protector.  After all, Noah isn't the only one after this Spear and he needs someone with skill to fight off the bad guys.  Finally, Bob Newhart plays Noah's boss and he's always pretty funny to me because of his relaxed and sarcastic personality.

The special effects may not have been as grand as the two movies mentioned above, but they were still pretty decent for a TV movie.  The fight scenes were well done and well planned so they looked realistic and not too overdone.  They don't use a lot of impossible or crazy fighting moves like the big screen movies usually use which makes it more believable. 

The plot isn't too deep as basically they are just after the Spear without a lot of side plots or twists and turns.  This is all that is really needed for this adventure though.  By keeping the story simple, you are able to focus more on all the different things they have to figure out instead of wondering if there's twists around the corner. 

In the end, I would usually rather watch the big screen productions over this TV movie, but that doesn't mean this isn't worth watching.  Just don't expect it to be a million dollar budget and you should enjoy it as well.  Remember that it's just a TV movie and your whole family should find it fun to watch.  It intrigued me because my mom's a librarian and now I wonder what really goes on when she goes to work!  Enjoy!!