This fantasy action film could only star Cuneyt Arkin. After all, he was `The Man Who Saved the Earth' (aka the Turkish Star Wars). Looking like an older James Dean and acting twice as intense, Cuneyt Arkin stars as Adam Costa, a loyal but disgraced soldier seeking to revenge the murder of his mother (and her whole village). It starts of seriously enough, but when people start jumping on rooftops 'Six Million Dollar Man' style the film loses all credibility. Along the way Adam saves a princess and falls in love, rejects a red haired witch, gets captured and blinded (a recurring theme in Arkins films), is forced to kill his best friend, miraculously regains his sight and defeats an entire army of Sinbad lookalikes by jumping on their heads! The plot is often incomprehensible, but luckily for us there is always another action scene around the corner. Unfortunately for us, as a fighter Cuneyt comes off a bit stiff.
This is the best kind of B movie. Everyone involved in the production must have had a whale of a time putting this together with the meagre production values available. The entire film seems to be shot on location, as we get to see every corner of the castle they were allowed to film in. The costumes appear to be rented from some cheap party shop (at one point Cuneyt even wears a Prince Charming costume). Who needs an original score, when you can borrow music from Hollywood productions, most notably John Barry's `The Lion in Winter'.
There are lots of experimental camera angels, cheap effects and a whole lot of eyes being poked out (after all, Adam has to take revenge for what they did to him). It gets rather bloody at times but it all looks so fake that you cannot help but be amused. Cuneyt gets hit by arrows more than any other man in this film, but keeps on fighting anyway. Also note that Turkish actors are masters of the exaggerated death scene. The way people perish in this film has not been seen since the silent era. Best of all, the public loved it and to this day Fadih Sultanin Fermani is a popular video rental.
A fabulous 4 out of 10
