Rating: 
Summary: David Carradine And A Puppet Pangolin!
Review: This movie is more boring than painful, but it is bad just the same. I bought it after reading the divergence of opinions here and found it to be mostly boring and mostly bad, with occasional points of light. Well, two points of light anyway. The first point of light: David Carradine plays a character named 'Kain', which is an obvious in-joke from his "Kung Fu" days when he played a character named 'Kane'. I don't know why this amused me so much, but I found that pretty funny for some reason. The second (and larger) point of light is Luke Askew as 'Zeg' in what is clearly the best performance in the movie. Askew is actually a very good actor, although he appeared in this and three other movies with David Carradine (including "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues") and even once on "Knight Rider"! He is, of course, better known for his excellent characterizations in "Cool Hand Luke" and "Easy Rider". Here he is a beacon of light. His performance isn't one of the best in his career, but it certainly beats the other performances seen here.Frankly, I am a fan of all genres of B-grade films, but the mystical films are not one of my favorite subsets of cheese. This one basically pits Kain, the 'Dark One', against everyone. He is a mercenary for hire to the highest bidder (although the trailer says it is the ultimate fight between good and evil): Carradine spends most of the film switching allegiances based on pecuniary considerations. It is tough to keep up with which side he's on at times, but in the end, inspired by the sorceress he sides with the peasant revolt and helps kill off the pig-faced slavers. Thematically, the film centers on the value of water as a natural resource and Kain's bank account. The movie has comically named characters like 'Bludge', 'Zeg', 'Burgo', 'Blather', 'Gabble' and 'Hubcap'. (I'm not sure about that last one; it is hard to understand some of the names.) Kain's power ultimately comes from the magic 'Sword of Ura' which the sorceress makes for him. It is so mighty it can cut through rocks! Zeg launches an all out war to get it, with the help of the fat guy and his talking pangolin (or is it a Komodo Dragon?) puppet (which speaks, though his lips don't move). Eventually Kane, sorry, I mean Kain takes on just about the whole planet and wins water for the oppressed masses. This movie has both its share of good and bad. The swordplay is actually very good, particularly in the final scene. The big black clouds that herald Kain's entrance onto the battlefield and the incredibly stupid giant land squid (with teeth!) are leaders in the bad column. Also modestly in the bad column is leading lady Maria Socas (better known for her work in Argentinean cinema with such credits as "Sobredosis", "El Color Escondido", and the 2002 release "Sin Intervalado") who has serious hair issues (though to cut her some slack, this movie was made in 1984) and is really not a very good actress, and is frankly not quite attractive enough to walk around in her given costume (if you can call it that.) She isn't terrible, but mostly looks disinterested. This movie isn't particularly good, but it isn't wretched either. It is too long, though, at 81 minutes. If it were an hour long it would be a much more entertaining production. Features of the DVD include trailers from this and many similar movies (actually the narration in the trailer made some sense of plot points which were confusing) as well as biographies/filmographies of the four central characters. Two stars. It won't ruin your life or cause you to seek therapy, but there are many better (and many funnier) B movies out there.
Rating:
Summary: Do you like Sword and Sorcery?
Review: Welcome to a distant world. A world of exciting battles, exotic women, and evil wizards. It's a world of mystical secrets, magical happenings and extraordinary entertainment. David Carradine is Kain, the last survivor of a mighty warrior tribe. Once an exalted warrior-priest, Kain now wanders the planet Ura as a mercenary sword-for-hire. In the small village of Yam-A-Tar, he finds more than a simple village war; he finds two mighty opponents, an oppressed people and the piercing, haunting eyes of a stunningly beautiful sorceress (Socas). Kain becomes embroiled in the treachery and battles, the mighty wizardry and rampant debauchery.
Actually this film is a copycat version both FISTFUL OF DOLLARS and YOJIMBO transplanted story of a lone fighter playing both ends against the middle to a mystical kingdom on a planet circling two suns. Lovely leading lady Socas plays the entire film topless.
The bottom line is this. If you like Sword and Sorcery you should like this movie...
Rating:
Summary: The Warrior and the Sorceress
Review: You'd have to call this "Yojimbo" meets "Kung Fu." Essentially a sword-and-sorcery remake of "Yojimbo/A Fistfull of Dollars" starring David Carradine, TWATS is remarkable faithful to its source material considering how many goofy in-jokes and hokey special effects it contains (the grizzled wandering swordsman played by Carradine is named Cain, for example). You probably need to be drunk or (heaven forbid) high to fully appreciate this film; but it has its moments of goofy fun, and its a must for completests who need to have every remake of "Yojimbo."
Rating:
Summary: The Warrior and the Sorceress
Review: You'd have to call this "Yojimbo" meets "Kung Fu." Essentially a sword-and-sorcery remake of "Yojimbo/A Fistfull of Dollars" starring David Carradine, TWATS is remarkable faithful to its source material considering how many goofy in-jokes and hokey special effects it contains (the grizzled wandering swordsman played by Carradine is named Cain, for example). You probably need to be drunk or (heaven forbid) high to fully appreciate this film; but it has its moments of goofy fun, and its a must for completests who need to have every remake of "Yojimbo."
Rating:
Summary: The Warrior and the Sorceress
Review: You'd have to call this "Yojimbo" meets "Kung Fu." Essentially a sword-and-sorcery remake of "Yojimbo/A Fistfull of Dollars" starring David Carradine, TWATS is remarkable faithful to its source material considering how many goofy in-jokes and hokey special effects it contains (the grizzled wandering swordsman played by Carradine is named Cain, for example). You probably need to be drunk or (heaven forbid) high to fully appreciate this film; but it has its moments of goofy fun, and its a must for completests who need to have every remake of "Yojimbo."
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