"The Librarian 3" Review: Truly Entertaining

Sometimes I lose track of programs that I need to review, and that’s what happened with TNT’s “The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice.”

And so now I owe you all an apology for not giving you more notice about this one because it is a truly entertaining two hours…

If you’ve never seen any of “The Librarian” movies (this is the third in the series), I would describe them as Indiana Jones for TV—except in this case, Indiana Jones is a bumbling geek.

Noah Wyle is Flynn Carsen, the Librarian. But that is not nearly as boring as it sounds because the part of the library he works for is the strange, mystical part that collects artifacts like Excalibur and the Fountain of Youth.

The guardian of these artifacts is Judson (the always wonderful Bob Newhart), the head of the Library, who is rather strange and mystical himself. Also assisting Flynn is Charlene (Jane Curtin), the director of personnel, who crunches the numbers to make sure that Flynn’s adventures don’t go over budget.

When the movie opens, Flynn’s Librarian duties are interfering with his personal life. Because he can’t tell anyone what he does, he’s unable to maintain a serious relationship. After witnessing Flynn’s temper tantrum, Charlene suggests he take a vacation. And after being summoned there by a beautiful woman in his dreams (Stana Katic), Flynn heads to New Orleans.

In New Orleans, Flynn becomes involved in the search for the Judas Chalice, the cup made from the 30 pieces of silver Judas was paid for betraying Jesus. Not only must Flynn find it, but he must keep it from a group of Russians who have their own nefarious reasons for getting their hands on the chalice.

If you’ve seen the previews, you know the element I’m leaving out of this; but since telling you will give away a major part of the story and help you figure out the big twist at the end, I’m going to keep quiet about it. Let’s just say that there’s more to the woman of Flynn’s dreams than meets the eye.

The movie, executive produced by Dean Devlin (“Independence Day,” “Leverage”) and directed by Jonathan Frakes, looks absolutely gorgeous as we’re led through mysterious cemeteries, swamps and all kinds of other creepy places.

And even though you will see the twists coming from a mile away, they’re still worth waiting for as the script does a great job of combining the creepy with the humorous—and that’s not easy to do.

But the real highlight of the movie is Wyle, who was born to play Flynn. He has just the right combination of geeky and daring; and his aw-shucks charm draws you in and doesn’t let you go until the very last moment.

And as improbable as some of the climax may seem, you’ll buy every minute of it thanks to Wyle’s wonderful performance…

“The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice” premieres tonight (Sunday, December 7th) at 8 on TNT. If you miss the premiere, you can catch encores tonight at 11; Tuesday, December 9th at 7 p.m.; Wednesday, December 10th at 9 p.m.; and Saturday, December 13th at 6 p.m. or 10:30 p.m…

Photos Credit: Erik Heinila/TNT