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OK, so two movies about a warrior named Ator got on MST3K, and then another one got on MST3K, and then a spin-off that retcons the whole story and gives Ator a new appearance and pisses off the creator of Ator, Joe D'Amato, so now Joey Tomato has to Rise of Skyewalker this Last Jedi and rewrite a few things. And thus, Ator was given ANOTHER origin story. Skipping the supposedly non-canon third one, I'm going right for the fourth, and the third directed by D'Amato.
This time, Ator starts out as the son of a king who is smitten by the same god, named Thorn, who let him wield his own sword. Stripped of her power, Ator's mother the queen makes a deal with a treacherous goblin who raises Ator as a part of the deal. As an adult, he defeats the goblin, reclaiming the sword and sets out not only to slay Thorn and rescue the one person who stood up for his father: an immortal woman.
From the start, the movie has slightly but noticeably higher production values than the first two movies. The goblin's lair looks perfectly appropriate for the film, for example. It's not overglossy like places like this can be in fantasy movies, but it's not "low-budget" either. However, the cheese comes on pretty early as we have half-assed origin stories involving curses, betrayal and He-Man style action. But the cheesiest thing in the movie must be when Ator reclaims his sword and cuts someone in half: someone who splits into two completely non-gory halves like a toy! I'm certain I heard the sound of rubber!
Ooh! And that's not all! In the second act: the hero is travelling through the grass fields and encounters an enemy. He takes his sword of light, and with video game sound effects his foe is slain! Yes, it was EXACTLY like in a video game. And there was even a miniboss which followed Ator, but couldn't bend over to go through the hole, so the monster just kelp walking into the wall like an NPC! Turns out he was a robot. It was amazing! And then the dragon showed up.
Now to quote Brandon the Singer: And that's not A-A-A-ALL!
In the third act, we have the beauty of magically summoned weapons in split-second shots, a creepy old man forcing our immortal lady into wedlock, and let us also call attention to the goblin who looks like an ugly-ass werewolf got ran over, and he sounds like the guy in the next cubicle with robotic acting. However, the cheese soon turns into boring politics and a predictable peplum third act, which seems to be a curse for D'Amato's movies. He has no idea how to make an ending good.
OK, this Ator movie wasn't fully fleshed out, but it had some great cheese about it. VIdeo game logic made it even better. Honestly, this is in my opinion the best of the Ator series, excluding Iron Warrior, the one Joe D'Amato hated because I haven't seen it, but the movie still isn't that great. It's just another sword and sorcery film like The Seven Magnificent Gladiators (no relation to Gladiator 7, directed by the guy who did Iron Warrior).
Ator III: Quest for the Mighty Sword
(1990) - Directed by Joe D'Amato
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Sword and Sorcery
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"So remember, son, whatever happens, this sword must belong to Ator."
(1990) - Directed by Joe D'Amato
--------------------------------------------
Sword and Sorcery
-------------------------------------------------
"So remember, son, whatever happens, this sword must belong to Ator."
OK, so two movies about a warrior named Ator got on MST3K, and then another one got on MST3K, and then a spin-off that retcons the whole story and gives Ator a new appearance and pisses off the creator of Ator, Joe D'Amato, so now Joey Tomato has to Rise of Skyewalker this Last Jedi and rewrite a few things. And thus, Ator was given ANOTHER origin story. Skipping the supposedly non-canon third one, I'm going right for the fourth, and the third directed by D'Amato.
This time, Ator starts out as the son of a king who is smitten by the same god, named Thorn, who let him wield his own sword. Stripped of her power, Ator's mother the queen makes a deal with a treacherous goblin who raises Ator as a part of the deal. As an adult, he defeats the goblin, reclaiming the sword and sets out not only to slay Thorn and rescue the one person who stood up for his father: an immortal woman.
From the start, the movie has slightly but noticeably higher production values than the first two movies. The goblin's lair looks perfectly appropriate for the film, for example. It's not overglossy like places like this can be in fantasy movies, but it's not "low-budget" either. However, the cheese comes on pretty early as we have half-assed origin stories involving curses, betrayal and He-Man style action. But the cheesiest thing in the movie must be when Ator reclaims his sword and cuts someone in half: someone who splits into two completely non-gory halves like a toy! I'm certain I heard the sound of rubber!
Ooh! And that's not all! In the second act: the hero is travelling through the grass fields and encounters an enemy. He takes his sword of light, and with video game sound effects his foe is slain! Yes, it was EXACTLY like in a video game. And there was even a miniboss which followed Ator, but couldn't bend over to go through the hole, so the monster just kelp walking into the wall like an NPC! Turns out he was a robot. It was amazing! And then the dragon showed up.
Now to quote Brandon the Singer: And that's not A-A-A-ALL!
In the third act, we have the beauty of magically summoned weapons in split-second shots, a creepy old man forcing our immortal lady into wedlock, and let us also call attention to the goblin who looks like an ugly-ass werewolf got ran over, and he sounds like the guy in the next cubicle with robotic acting. However, the cheese soon turns into boring politics and a predictable peplum third act, which seems to be a curse for D'Amato's movies. He has no idea how to make an ending good.
OK, this Ator movie wasn't fully fleshed out, but it had some great cheese about it. VIdeo game logic made it even better. Honestly, this is in my opinion the best of the Ator series, excluding Iron Warrior, the one Joe D'Amato hated because I haven't seen it, but the movie still isn't that great. It's just another sword and sorcery film like The Seven Magnificent Gladiators (no relation to Gladiator 7, directed by the guy who did Iron Warrior).