The Beastmaster

A whole lotta animals, and humans bearing close resemblance to them, make up this movie. Not surprisingly, it is called The Beastmaster.

This movie is a big screen adaptation of a novel by Andrew Norton. Boy! What a mess it is! First the king of Arrok, Zed, exiles the High Priest Maax (Rip Torn). Maax’s witches prophesise that Zed’s son would kill him. Out to prove them wrong, Maax attempts to slay the infant, Dar. Somehow, the latter is saved and adopted by a passerby.

Then some 20 years later, Maax and the Jun horde (a tribe of monsters) raze their village, and Dar (Marc Singer) is the only survivor. Now he is out for vendetta with an army of animals that consists of two ferrets, Koto & Poto (if only we knew what they mean), a panther Ruh, and an immortal eagle Sharak. His mission also includes saving Keri (Tanya Roberts) from Maax’s clutches. He gathers with him a few more characters on the way – this time around, human.

Only some passable camerawork prevents the movie from being an eyesore. Though Marc Singer is not as wooden as Schwarzenneger, he hasn’t got any more to do than wave his sword and emote a little. Tanya Roberts, if you remember, was one of the Bond girls in A View To A Kill. On the eve of The Beastmaster’s release, she gave it enough publicity by posing nude for Playboy magazine. That apart, she isn’t of any consequence in the movie.

The worst part about the action in this movie is that, half the time, you cannot figure out who is fighting whom. More than half of those involved, appear distinctly inhuman.

This character’s (Beastmaster’s) popularity is derived mainly from its two sequels and a television series. Can’t say anything about them, but definitely avoid this one.