Beastmaster - L'occhio di Braxus

Old Lord Agon (David Warner) desires an object of power, the Eye of Braxus, which would provide him with new energy. Dar (Marc Singer) owns one half of the amulet, young king Tal (Casper Van Dien, with a ridiculous wig) the other half. Tal is caught by Lord Agon. Dar starts a rescue mission across the jungle and meets Shada (Sandra Hess, "Mortal Kombat 2"). He makes the mistake to trust her, but then she tries to steal the amulet. And on who's side is the witch Morgana (Lesley-Anne Down)?

It looks like a cheap TV production, not a movie, because it is a cheap TV production. The demon Braxus could be one of the Ninja Turtles on a Monday morning. Gabrielle Beaumont, an experienced TV director ("Dynasty", "Star Trek: Next Generation") does a good job within the budget limitation. The story is solid, the characters have a certain charm, thus 'Beastmaster 3' is neither a contribution as important to the genre as the first installment, nor trash as bizarre as the second part, but simply average entertainment to pass the time.

Marc Singer returns as Dar "The Beastmaster" who this time helps save his brother king from an evil sorcerer named Agon(David Warner) in this made for TV version of the Beastmaster story. What helps Beastmaster III in being better than it's awful predecessor (Beastmaster 2) is that it stays in it's time zone and it doesn't have Kari Wuher (Always a plus) the movie plays out like a watchable sword and sorcery movie from the 80's. The action isn't very well staged because the camera angles give off the impression of made for TV but they do happen frequent enough and are occasionally fun to watch. Though the movie belongs to Marc Singer who basically is likable and very well suited to his part. Indeed the whole cast is fun as they include Tony Todd, Lesley Anne-Down, David Warner and Patrick Kilpatrick. Once again the movie ends on an unsatisfying note but basically it does represent a vast improvement over # 2. However stick with the first, as the best of the series.

* * out of 4-(Fair)

Beastmaster 3 and the whole series is dumb and faky. Everone of them are B movies but this is the worst one. It combines incredibly bad acting and cheesy special effects. It is worse than a made for TV movie. If you watch this on TV like I did then you would probably find better acting and effects in the commercials you see while it is on.

Not to be taken seriously, the cast didn't even take this seriously and it looked like they had a laugh filming this piece of c**p (except the fella who got mauled by the Lion).

Plot is simple: The Beastmaster named Dar (Marc Singer) must save his brother King Tal (Casper Van Dien) from Lord Agon (David Warner) who has captured him to make himself young for eternity or something like that, wasn't really paying attention. This inconvenience took Dar away from his wanderings around the wilderness playing with his animals. Dar is joined by Seth (Tony Todd) who can't seem to talk him out of making wrong decision after wrong decision. Later we are introduced to the stunning Shada (Sandra Hess), Jaggart (Patrick Kilpatrick), Morgana (Lesley-Anne Down) and the not-so-great acrobat Bey (Keith Coulouris) are they friends or foes? Not only these, but due to his continuous mishaps Dar gets plunged into the fires time after time with savage tribes, thieves, circuses, and un-cooperative animals.

To say the acting is poor, might be a bit harsh, Marc Singer definitely just showed up for his pay-check, if he even got one. The plot, dialogue, choreography of the fight scenes, budget, effort and the direction are the real culprits. The film feels like a series episode not far removed from Xena Warrior Princess or Hercules and I have my suspicions it was to be the first of a series but expanded into a film, maybe due to contract constraints or production issue's.

All-in-all it is a fun watch, especially the ending which is pure cheese with the super villain Braxus and the corny finish which bumped it up a star for me. Just be prepared it is not B-movie gold, but rather tv movie wtf is this s**t.

One disappointment, the massive build up for Seth revealing what he got turned into by the witch Morgana is a complete anti-climax.

Cheese moment to look out for anytime Dar summons his bird-of-prey.

Here, let me get this out of the way: this movie SUCKS. Big time. There are absolutely NO redeeming qualities about this movie. None whatsoever. Except it's hilarious to watch with friends.

My friends and I have watched quite a few bad movies in our time, but this is the all-time champ of B-movies. Sure, "Plan 9" might suck more, but this one is more fun to watch. And it's also great to see Casper Van Dien in one of his first roles. I recommend this one to any B-movie enthusiast. It is the best. Long live Dar! Shirac!