This unaccountably popular series continues to waste the talent of star Marc Singer, who is required to do little more than thrust, parry, and flex his pecs. As usual, Singer's ancient-world Doctor Dolittle struts his legendary stuff in a juvenile adventure that could be categorized as a
Steve Reeves movie without the guts.
Hoping to regain his waning powers, wizened Lord Agon (David Warner) saps the strength out of young, virile sacrificial victims and plots to lay his sorcerer's mitts on the magical gem, the Eye of Braxus. King Tal (Casper Van Dien) shares the Braxus-jewel artifact with his sibling Dar, the
Beastmaster (Marc Singer). King Tal, captured by Agon, refuses to divulge Dar's whereabouts, despite torture inside the Shroud of Agony.
Meanwhile, King Tal's trusted bodyguard, Seth (Tony Todd), and Dar are betrayed by the Amazon Shada (Sandra Hess), who delivers them to a savage tribe but fails to steal Dar's Braxus gem-half.
Freed thanks to the combine cunning of Dar's trained lion, hawk and ferrets, Dar befriends Bey (Keith Coulouris), a callow acrobat in a traveling carnival. Seth reluctantly renews his acquaintance with Bey's boss, Morgana the Witch (Lesley-Anne Down). Morgana hatches a plot by which Dar might
rescue King Tal. The plan includes Dar being delivered to Agon's crimson guard, on the theory that Dar will be able to rescue King Tal once he's inside the palace. Inside Agon's castle, adventuress Shada redeems herself by saving Dar from a pit of unfriendly animals.
Stymied before he can complete a rejuvenation treatment courtesy of a captured Bey, Agon does manage to acquire both pieces of the Eye of Braxus, which he fits into the forehead of a satanic idol. Although Agon transforms himself into a hellish creature with unlimited powers, Dar snatches the
Braxus-gem from the statue and runs a sword through Agon's demonic manifestation, which Dar sends back to the pit of Hades. After Dar destroys the Eye of Braxus once and for all, peace is restored to the kingdom.
The thoroughly routine loin-cloth shenanigans of BEASTMASTER 3 will probably best be enjoyed by aggressive kids and young adults who thought YOR: THE HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE (1983) was a terrific movie. Despite some jollity here and there, BEASTMASTER 3 takes its legend-making seriously and doesn't
resort to a tongue-in-cheek attitude. That's just as well, since the assembled cast wouldn't have had the flair to put it across anyway.
Whenever the script doesn't defeat the efforts of the athletic cast, the pinch-penny budget does. Unable to build a crescendo of suspense or to manufacture any dramatic conflict, BEASTMASTER 3 dishes out loud, sword-clanking action like mashed potatoes lumped onto a plastic cafeteria plate.
(Violence.) leave a comment