Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus (1996)

I'll be short on this one. OK, I know how most of fans and non-fans of the original "Beastmaster" were annoyed by the sequel "Beastmaser - Through the Portal of Time". But this one, this one is the worst. How so? Here's why. The second one spawned this sequel. I don't know whose idea was it. And how come that such a bad sequel can produce the third one? The second one didn't even give any hints about the sequel. I just don't understand who decided to throw money away for this project? The story is ridiculous, clichéd and lame, visual and especial effects are terrible, acting, well... Not that quite, in short... Marc Singer was in his element of Darr, at least that was one thing that can make you enjoy the movie even a tiny bit. Sandra Hess was just hot in this film. And sadly, that's all she did. It's not her fault, the script and the director gave her nothing to work with. Casper Van Dien? This film was just a proof that his career will be destroyed at some point. Patrick Kilpatrick? Well, I guess that he was the man for the job when it comes to supporting villains and heavies. Patrick is a good actor, but the typecasting ruined him. David Warner, don't know how he ended up here, but obviously they needed a guy with suave looks and charming British accent. Lesley-Anne Down... well that was quite of surprise, although she didn't do much with her character. The only actor I admire here is Tony Todd, a great replacement for Seth from the original film. He didn't do much, but I think in this film Seth finally has some backstory and character, which is both serious and used, in a way, as a comic relief for just a second. Which is why I gave this film 3 of 10. Though his fight scenes were badly filmed and clumsy choreography, which basically goes for all characters in action scenes. I can also add that animals used in this film were pretty solid as trained actors. If you want a joke... Here it is - Beastmaster 3... time waster and the dullest of them all.

This movie (unlike the second one) committed one cardinal sin. It had a workable story so it took itself seriously in spite of extremely low budget and extremely low movie-making skills of the crew. Instead of being (for example) like Mortal Kombat the movies (by the way, Sandra Hess played Sonya Blade in MK2 as her next role) it's closer to Mortal Kombat: Conquest (the awful series). This whole movie looks like a pilot and uses all of those TV rules about violence, language, over-exposition in a scene etc.Few complaints beside the main point...Second part was in the future parallel dimension. OK. This one is apparently first in Egypt or middle east (Casper Van Dien has a Pharaoh-like costume, and camels and people in dresses and shorts (and boxers) are all over the place) and then South America (with the wild pygmy tribe).As in the first one, people alone and even villages here get ambushed way too much. Didn't they have f-ing outposts in the dark ages? Or eyes for that matter? Surprise attacks are happening all over the place, sometimes simply by bad guys jumping in front of the characters.And what's the deal with the glasses on that "Albert Einstein" guy? He bought them at his eye doctor's?Not to forget to mention that apparently all tiger actors and trainers were busy at the time of the filming. Ra was first a black tiger, then a regular tiger and finally a Lion. The cat just can't make up its mind.

What was Marc Singer thinking? Was he truly that desperate for work, or was this just a fulfillment of some contractual obligation? Either way, he should be deeply ashamed of appearing in this turkey. The original Beastmaster was a wonderful film with a great deal of originality but the sequels have progressively deteriorated into farce.I can't begin to tell you how bad this movie is. Memorable moments include Dar's Lion buddy, who clearly is too old to do his own stuntwork anymore (Old=not likely to attack the actors) so they employ a lioness to do the scenes where he gets caught in a net. Lion with a mane becomes lioness without one. Hmmm...that's not noticeable at all...no sir!Suffice to say it's only saving grace is the finale where Dar (Singer) fights some demon lord. Why is this bit the best? Is it action packed? Is it full of great special effects? No. It's the best because it's just so farcical you'll be in stitches with laughter throughout it. The creature is a cross between a teenage mutant turtle and the Papa Dinosaur from the "Dinosaurs" TV series. Comical doesn't even begin to describe how this "evil" demon looks. It has all the menace of a Jim Henson muppet.Ads if that weren't enough we are also treated to an early performance from Casper van Dien as some supposed king. Yep, that's believable....not. In fact, of all the cast, the only ones who even looked comfortable with their roles were Marc Singer and David Warner (yes, he's the bad guy - no surprise there). The rest were a mixture of woefully bad acting and miscasting.One other thing of interest. Marc Singer now actually looks like he has spent a lifetime wandering the wilderness with nothing more than a loincloth to protect him from the elements. So that much was realistic.SUMMARY: Watch it, grit your teeth, then laugh at the dumb finale.

After seeing this movie(and while not as good as Beastmaster, but better than Beastmaster II) I have to ask if anyone else thought that the reptillian beast bore an uncanny resemblance to character of Earl Sinclair of the Jim Henson Tv series "Dinosaurs", if Earl Sinclair went on a diet and lost a ton or two? To me, the resemblance totally deflated the seriousness of the battle between the beast and Dar.