Iron Warrior

This is very different from the standard sword 'n sandal pics, and indeed the other two Ator films. It feels more like an art house film. Lots of swirling cloths, slomo-scenes, coloured filters, weird hair styles and make up and a WTF?! Ending. Our princess wears dresses made of swirling cloths in either scarlet or blue, she has pink lips and one pink eyebrow (weird) and her hair is kinda gathered into this crest like a Greek helmet which is just odd. Ator, has his hair done like a girl, beautifully braided and is too neat and styalised to be the 'warrior hero' he is supposed to be. The whole thing feels like a rock video, or an advert for something. The one great thing is that it isn't dubbed.

This is by the director of the awful 1973 'Beauty of the Barbarian' and had I known that I might not have bought it. This is a terrible film. Nothing much happens, its very very arty ie: pretty in a very 80's kind of way, but not much substance. The music is again poorly chosen, though its not as cringeworthy as the skippy the kangaroo stylee stuff from 'beauty of the barbarian'. The characters are underdeveloped, and although Miles O'Keeffe is undeniably lovely to look at, even he cannot save this film. The ending is sudden, weird and non sensical, if you can make it that far. The special effects like Phaedra's spinning hula hoop are tacky. There is no tension, no emotion, no real story and even the sword fights aren't particularly exciting. Still, it is quite pretty, the scenery (its filmed in Malta) is beautiful, and it does have a shirtless Miles O'Keeffe.

Ator must battle with Phaedra, an evil sorceress and her unstoppable warrior, who has a secret connection to our heroes past.

Director Alfonso Brescia ambitious Iron Warrior is a low budget mix of Excalibur, Clash of the Titans, with a touch of Alejandro Jodorowsky wackiness and Duran Duran music video prowess to name a few. Opening with Carlo Maria Cordio's endless credit title music (oddly reminiscent of Star Trek The Next Generation), we're then sold the aesthetically pleasing locations of the Mediterranean's Malta and Gozo. However, the sunny visuals take away from Iron Warrior some much needed atmosphere. Nevertheless, Brescia's Italian production doesn't shy away from brief nudity, some Lucio Fulci inspired make up and shock moments.

Brescia while disregarding Ator's established character origins (in Ator Flight of the Eagle (1982) and Ator 2 - L'invincibile Orion, released in America as The Blade Master 1984)) at best offers stylised 80's bold geometric shape makeup, and fan blown hair with vibrant costumes, reds, greens and flowing material passing the camera. There's a handful of beautiful women thrown including Iris Peynado, notable is the stunning Princess Jana, actress Sabina Gersak. Offering a poor mans Conan swordplay. There's Superman (1978) Krypton-like prison rings trapping a witch, with Ator played again by Miles OKeeffe, a chiseled lean He-Man, along with nemesis Trogar (Franco Daddi) a Skeletor meets with Action Force's Destro type sword wielding nemesis. He employs slow-motion, sped up film, wide shots and old Bewitched/Randall and Hopkirk vanishing editing tricks. The avant-garde mix of student-like experimental film elements is endless.

If theatrical, over the top, choppy Italian sorcery fantasy salami is your thing, Iron Warrior is a must see.

I can understand why fans of Sword and Sorcery films might be disappointed with this film. However it is a distinctive tale with some genuinely artistic direction. The Maltese locations are inspired especially when you consider the mystique surrounding those early cultures.

The action sequences don't stand up to modern scrutiny, but the hero certainly looks the part. Trogar isn't the worst unstoppable creature I've seen. The two leads are restrained - you might say 'wooden' but that works well if you accept the film's legendary feel.

The real liveliness of the film comes from the Witchy bad girl who is clearly having fun; and the Timelord-style goddesses who oppose her.

The film isn't exciting but neither is it predictable. The script isn't bad at all and seems to have some ambitions with regard to dualism and the need for balance in the universe.

I won't throw my copy away.

"Iron Warrior" introduces a new style both for Ator (he has black hair now, in a ponytail, and barely utters more than fifty words in the entire movie) and for the series itself. Director Brescia drops the silliness and campiness of the two D'Amato-directed "Ator" flicks in favor of a pseudo-arty approach. He employs every trick in the book: slow-motion, fast-motion(!), wide-angle lenses, cheap editing tricks to make people "disappear", etc. But the result in nothing more than a ponderous, often incomprehensible film that you may have to struggle to get through. The Malta locations are admittedly very beautiful, though. (*)

My review was written in March 1987 after a screening at Manhattan's UA Twin.

"Iron Warrior" pretends to be a fantasy adventure, but it's really just an ad for the Malta tourist board, Beautiful locations filmed on the islands of Malta and Gozo provide the backdrop for incoherent filler, shot in 1985 under the title "Echoes of Wizardry" by producer Ovidio G. Assonitis, whose name is understandably missing from the credits crawl.

Miles O'Keeffe returns for the third time as Ator, mythical warrior given a new history here: his twin brother was kidnapped in childhood by evil witch Phoedra (Elizabeth Kaza in a red fright wig). Some 18 years later Ator is tapped by the nice sorceress Deeva (Iris Peynado) to protect Princess Janna (Savina Gersak) against evil, in the form of his brother who wears a silver skull mask, red bandana and breathes like Darth Vader.

Ator and Janna trek around the rugged Malta rock faces on various missions for Deeva with absolutely no continuity to the narrative and some of the worst editing ever used in a feature film. Every couple of minutes Ator gets involved in boring swordplay with baddies and, to pad the running time, footage of another actor (who doesn't resemble O'Keeffe at all) wearing a babushka over his mouth is inserted fighting men on horseback with his sword. A dragon-style monster is shown on the poster and ads but fails to show up during the film.

Italian potboiler director Alfonso Brescia ("you can call me Al Bradley") imitates numerous George Lucas films here, lifting equal amounts from both the "Star Wars" sagas and "Indiana Jones" films. Out-theme is a poor imitation of "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" music.

O'Keeffe is embarrassing, posing instead of acting and, like the rest of the cast, stuck with a funny-looking punk-influenced hairdo. Deborah Raffin-lookalike heroine Savina Gersak at least wears see-through gowns throughout the picture, but the editor nastily deletes her several wet T-shirt scenes. Best thing in the pic is the exotic, blue-eyed black actress Iris Peynado, previously seen in Lamberto Bava's "Monster Shark".

Pic was obviously made for home video and undemanding foreign markets, but it's another insult from distrib TWE to Stateside theatrical B-picture fans. Oh for the days when Lippert and other second-feature labels gave us engrossing little films starring Dane Clark or Cesar Romero, with interesting storylines and talented supporting casts.