Deathstalker (1983) Review

"Heroes and fools... are the same thing!" - Deathstalker.

With the release of many a blockbuster waiting to soon find themselves reviewed here, I thought I'd change things up a little bit by reviewing a film not many people will have heard of. My choice is the 1983 sword-and-sorcery film Deathstalker, released on the heels of box-office success Conan the Barbarian (1982). Low-budget Conan clones were all the rage back in the early 80's, and  Deathstalker proved to be one of the more successful entries, garnering a cult following and three sequels. It is a fascinating watch today, and will be a guilty-pleasure of mine for many years to come.

The lone-warrior Deathstalker (Rick Hill) is tasked by a witch to retrieve three powerful relics: a sword, an amulet and a chalice. Discovering the sword in a cave, Deathstalker sets out to retrieve the other two relics, which are in the possession of an evil sorcerer named Munkar (Bernard Erhard). Munkar plans to attract the strongest warriors in the land to participate in a fighting tournament, under the false pretence that the winner will inherit his kingdom and riches. Deathstalker, along with new-found compatriots Oghris (Richard Brooker) and Kaira (Lana Clarkson), arrives to participate in the tournament and retrieve the other relics, as well as rescue the captive Princess Codille (Barbi Benton).

At only 80 minutes long, this is a short feature, and the time flies by when watching it because its so entertaining. There are too many crazy moments to count, which makes the film difficult to review. I could talk about the simple plot, for example, in a negative way, but this is the kind of film where the craziness overshadows the more important aspects of a film. So I'll take a look at the characters and some of the film's highlights. Let's start with our hero, Deathstalker. Known only by this name (on the odd occasion hilariously shortening it to simply "Stalker"), he is a powerful warrior with a meat-headed attitude. The very first scene involves him saving a girl from goblin-like creatures, only to undress her before being interrupted. He seeks neither fame nor glory, but is more than happy to accept going on a quest to obtain powerful relics, which will no doubt make him famous and glorified anyway. With his cold demeanour and misogynistic ways, he isn't much of a hero, but he's not as evil as Munkar, which makes him seem more heroic by comparison. Rick Hill is perfect for this role, delivering his cheesy one-liners in his low voice with confidence. When not spouting hilarious dialogue (like the above quip), he is able to appear intimidating due to his large physique and fighting skills. 

Deathstalker's companions are just as memorable as he is, and there are some interesting (and bizarre) creative choices to their portrayals. Kaira is a female warrior who hooks up with Deathstalker, but is also able to fight her own battles. All the other women in the film are portrayed as victims, but Kaira is the exception. She intends to compete in Munkar's tournament, and is more than capable of holding her own in a fight. She does, however, succumb to some of the more misogynistic aspects of the film despite her being a more strong-willed character. She appears bare-chested for most of her screen-time, and Deathstalker forces himself upon her on the first night they meet. No wonder they have such a strong bond: he embarks on a quest that will inadvertently make him famous, and she fights against female oppression, but is more than happy to enjoy Deathstalker having his way with her within hours of first meeting him. Both of them are as morally confused as each other it would seem. She also gets very little dialogue, and is killed off before she even gets a chance to compete in the tournament, making her seem not as important as the other characters. Though she is certainly memorable, it would have been nice to see her last until the end, as it would at least mean one woman triumphs over the male dominance of the film. 

Oghris, like Deathstalker, is a skilled fighter, and at first appears to be a more noble character than the lead. In his first scene, he rescues a woman from being raped (with the eventual help of Deathstalker). However, he indulges himself in having his way with women upon arrival at Munkar's castle, and is secretly in cahoots with Munkar. He also wears a ridiculous piece of armour: a half-vest thing which would appear to be more suitable for a female character. He competes in the tournament and does well, but meets his end at the hands of Deathstalker after learning of his betrayal. The two of them have a pretty good fight scene, with lots of props smashed and a surprising amount of drama. Though much of the film is hard to take seriously, the lack of dialogue involved before they fight makes for a decent portrayal of friends turned enemies.

Bernard Erhard is arguably the best actor in the film. His appearance is weird, with a massive tattoo on the side of his head, but he makes Munkar a threatening villain and more than a match for Deathstalker. Being a sorcerer, he exhibits all sorts of unusual powers throughout the film, the weirdest being the ability to change a man into a woman! He's not over-the-top and bombastic as one might expected in a film of this nature, instead radiating a disturbingly calm presence. He also suffers perhaps the most brutal death in the film: being ripped limb from limb after Deathstalker defeats him.

The characters are a lot of fun, but the plethora of strange scenes is what makes Deathstalker the guilty-pleasure that it is. I've heard that some scenes had to be removed or significantly cut down, as the filmmakers were aimed for a runtime of around 80 minutes. If true, it at least makes sense of some of the dodgy editing in certain moments. Sometimes the editing is so fast you can barely process what is happening. There's a scene near the beginning where Deathstalker and a witch fight some of Munkar's henchman, and the dialogue is cut together so fast that it sounds very unnatural. There are other instances where the film feels like it was improvised, such as a fight in Munkar's castle where all hell breaks loose amongst the fighters. It's so chaotic that I feel the director must have said "do whatever you want and we'll keep the best bits in the film". This is my favourite scene in the whole film because its completely ridiculous and features the best method of fighting ever. In a moment of pure brilliance, a pig-like creature rips a man's arm off and uses it to club another man to death. If I had to show one scene that sums up the enjoyable stupidity of Deathstalker, this would be it. Check it out for yourself:

With its memorable characters and cheap charm, Deathstalker is a fun-filled ride from start to finish. Though its depictions of female characters are distractingly old-fashioned, there is still enough action and quotable dialogue to make this a great addition to an ultimately silly genre. Its one of those films best enjoyed with a group of friends, as some of the silliness has to be seen to be believed. Track it down on VHS or DVD, sit back, and switch your brain off for 80 minutes of cheese!

Captain America: Civil War (2016) Review

"I know we're not perfect, but the safest hands are still our own." - Captain America.

My work schedule is finally starting to clear up. But, no matter how busy I was, there was always room to fit in going to see Captain America: Civil War. I really admired last year's Avengers: Age of Ultron (the first film I reviewed on this blog), and so I was looking forward to seeing how these characters have progressed since then. This time around, the Avengers aren't up against a madman wanting to destroy or takeover the world, but instead are torn apart over government interference and personal issues. Boasting new, exciting characters such as Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Spiderman (Tom Holland), Civil War aims to up the ante greater than any other MCU film. With it's engaging story and characters as well as incredible action, the film achieves its goal and is a stunning opening chapter in the third phase of the most successful franchise in film history.

Following on one year after the Avengers defeated Ultron, Captain America (Chris Evans) leads Scarlet Witch (Elisabeth Olsen), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) on another mission. Their attempts to prevent the theft of a biological weapon ends in many innocent lives lost, with Scarlet Witch unable to be in complete control of her powers. This leads Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) to try and convince the team to agree to a new government initiative to keep the Avengers' actions limited, so as to lessen the chances of any more destruction. This causes a fraction within the team, with Captain America insisting they should act on their own freewill, and Iron Man feeling the imitative is the right thing to due after feeling guilty about creating Ultron in the last film. The divide is cemented by an attempt to frame Captain America's friend, Bucky (Sebastian Stan), which is orchestrated by a man named Zemo (Daniel Bruhl). Zemo seeks revenge on the team for the destruction they caused to his country in the last film, and feels the best way to do so is by having them fight one-another. So its Captain America and his Team vs. Iron Man, his team and the government, in the biggest superhero conflict ever devised!

A major plus point for the film is that it invests plenty of time into the motivations, emotions and personalities of the many characters. We've seen the tension between Iron Man and Captain America in previous films, but never have the stakes been this high. There's good drama to be had from Tony Stark (Iron Man) contemplating whether or not the Avengers are any better than "the bad guys" if they aren't supervised, but at the same time, Captain America's thoughts are difficult to argue against. So really, whichever "team" you decide to cheer for will come down to which you find the more cool, as both lead characters put in compelling arguments for and against the supervision initiative. I was also pleased that Scarlet Witch and Vision (Paul Bettany) are further developed. Scarlet Witch has made her transition from evil to good, but she is the most emotionally unstable of the group. Vision, being the all powerful being that he is, is able to understand her struggles, which covers the more sentimental parts of the film. This development aids the conflict as Scarlet Witch joins Captain America's side and Vision joins Iron Man's, which makes for far better viewing than just having a "good" character fight the token "bad" character, as is so often the case with superhero films.

Alongside the well written characters is the outstanding action. After city-scale battles in the two Avengers films, Civil War delivers on keeping up Marvel's high standard. This is helped by pitting the team against on another, as now they are facing their equals in combat. Before, the Avengers battled alien soldiers and robots, but now we get to see an all out battle involving technology, magic and hand-to-hand combat all being used against one another. There is also room for plenty of humour, too, especially when Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is involved. This prevents the lengthy action sequences from becoming tiring, and is a more than welcome presentation after the anti-climatic Batman v Superman a few months earlier. I don't want to go into too much depth here, as the action is the film's selling point and is best experienced without knowing all the little details.

Aside from the promise of seeing the Avengers battle one-another, much of the film's hype revolved around the introduction of two new characters. The first is Black Panther, who joins the fight after Bucky is framed for murdering his father. With incredible speed and agility, he is more than a match for most of the team. Chadwick Boseman is thankfully given much to do with the role, going from a proud son to a vengeful vigilante, whilst still remaining likeable throughout. However, for all of Black Panther's might and presence, he was never going to top the inclusion of Spiderman, seen here for the first time in the MCU. Whilst it was only two years ago we last saw this character (in the underwhelming mess The Amazing Spiderman 2), audiences aren't growing tired of him anytime soon, as proven by the reaction his reveal received online as well as the screening I was at. Tom Holland is the first teenage actor to play the role, and his performance is noticeably different from previous actor's portrayals as a result. He has a vulnerable look due to his young age, but when in costume, delivers all the humour and tricks one could hope for. I wasn't surprised to see he wasn't in the film too long, as they've yet to fully establish him in the MCU and was more a treat for the fans than anything else. I look forward to seeing him in his own MCU film next year.

The film is selling itself on the spectacle of superhero team vs. superhero team, and you get exactly that. However, there is nothing too surprising overall about the plot, aside from one potential game-changer reveal towards the end. Whilst it isn't as cookie-cutter as other superhero movies, there isn't anything that stands out as brand new, other than the sheer scale of action and characters involved. That said, there is certainly a lot to enjoy throughout, especially the battle at the airport, where all the heroes get a chance to show off their unique abilities. After the depressing tone of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, this film feels like a breath of fresh air. It's much more fun and the conflict is handled so much better as the focus is mainly on Iron Man and Captain America. The supporting characters are all memorable, and it nicely sets up the rest of the series. Chances are you've probably seen the film by now, but if you haven't, go in expecting a fun ride and some decent drama and you'll have a blast.