VHS Vednesday: Crossworlds

CROSSWORLDS (1996). Directed by Krishna Rao. Starring Josh Charles, Rutger Hauer, and Andrea Roth.

Feeling about as much like a Full Moon picture without actually being from Full Moon, Crossworlds follows a by-the-numbers mythic quest as a young man named Joseph (Josh Charles), living an unremarkable boring life, is suddenly plunged into worlds beyond his understanding after encountering a mysterious beautiful woman (Andrea Roth) and an enigmatic mentor (Rutger Hauer). Joseph learns that he holds the key to interdimensional travel, in the form of a crystal pendant left to him by his father. Now, it's up to him to keep the crystal out of the hands of evil and reclaim his destiny. In other words, pretty much your archetypal Joseph Campbell hero's journey...is it a coincidence that our hero's name is Joseph?

Crossworlds is perfectly generic in almost all respects...decently executed and acted, but virtually indistinguishable from any number of straight-to-video fantasy epics, neither good enough to linger in the memory nor bad enough to be campy fun.

Who's Leaving This Off Their Resume?

Perhaps the most entertaining scene occurs before any of the fantasy elements come into the story...take a look at the party scene in which stick-in-the-mud Joseph is encouraged to cut loose by his boorish pal, played by none other than Jack Black (fairly early in his career). It's basically the same rowdy-boy act that he's done so many times, but still...it's Jack Black!