Ator, the Blade Master Review

Can a sequel of a terrible movie come out better than from what it is molded from? Let’s take a look below to find out!

The Scores

Interest: 5/10

Acting: 4.5/10

Storyline: 2/10

Intensity: 4/10

Fights Guns or Otherwise: 5/10

Nudity: 0/10

Director Score: 5/10

Musical Score: 3/10

Dialogue: 6/10

Logic In The Film: 3/10

Ator, the Blade Master (Also Known As Cave Dwellers, or just The Blade Master) is a 1984 film and sequel to Ator, the Fighting Eagle. The movie is an action, adventure, and fantasy film. Its run time is one hour and thirty-two minutes long. The Three main stars of the film are Miles O’Keeffe (Known for The Blade Masters, Ator, the Fighting Eagle, Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Pocahontas: The Legend), Lisa Foster (Known for Virtuosity, Cliffhanger, Die Hard: With a Vengeance, and Wolf), and Charles Borromel (Known for Ladyhawke, Messalina vs. the Son of Hercules, Waterloo, and Ator, the Blade Master). Again Joe D’Amato is the director (Best known for Death Smiles on a Murderer, Ator, the Fighting Eagle, Emanuelle’s Revenge, and 2020 Texas Gladiator). A quick summary of the film “In this sequel, Ator returns to save a former mentor from an evil man named Zor. Ator battles a slew of things from cave dwellers, invisible men, and snakes with his sidekick, Thong.” Let’s see how this movie fairs, shall we?

Interest: Interest in this one actually is a little higher than the first one, but that also isn’t saying much. There are more action scenes in this film, and Ator seems to have grown as a character between films. Otherwise, the film is much of the same from the last film which is a chore to make it through, Everything seems to be done to just make a movie, not to make something people will enjoy, which makes me personally not want to watch it.

Acting: The acting in the film is about on par with the first film, which is an incredibly bad thing. Everyone is stiff and rigid about how they act, and it is honestly the reason why it’s so hard to watch. That and it feels like the first two movies could have been combined into a single movie.

Storyline: The storyline is good on paper, Save an old mentor from an evil man and ruler named Zor. In practice, it personally to me failed miserably. The story does do that, and has a couple of other plot points. But if you so begrudgingly did watch the first one, there are many questions you need to ask, such as “Where is his wife from the first film?” “Where did he meet is mentor?” “Who are these other people in this film that are his friends?” You ask these questions and more if you watch the film and have watched the first one as well. If you watch it on its own, it may be an okay experience, but it’ll still be rough.

Intensity: The intensity of the film is bland. The fights partially help try to dig it out of a hole of blandness, but it can’t make it out feeling intense. A few other things happened that may help it to be better than the first one, the snake pit scene was a bit intense, but those were the two times that I actually felt intensity. Everything else seems like a bad B movie experience.

Fights, Guns or Otherwise: Fights in the film stepped up there game some. They were better choreographed, and seemingly more impactful fight scenes. This being said, still no real amount of gore for a movie with focus of sword play and just medieval weaponry in general. Actual verbal razors being said are much more rousing, but still far and few between to be actually good or something that holds substance. Again there is no lasting psyche damage, no PTSD, and I wouldn’t ever figure these films show something like that.

Nudity: There is no nudity in the film. It wouldn’t of hurt or helped the film really, unless there was a sacrifice scene or something. That’s really about it.

Director Score: Joe D’Amato again is just okay. He learned and corrected the fights and some of the dialogue problems. He kept the same costume ideas as the last film (At least there is continuity?) and still casted well. Joe lost continuity from the last film with all the questions I asked earlier, like where in the hell is Ator’s wife? I’m not even trying to ask hard questions, I just am assuming she died and maybe he’s grieving, or was Joe hoping we’d forget? Either way, it is all really a wash here.

Musical Score: The musical score of Ator, the Blade Master is okay. It is used to better affect than the first movie. It is moody and ambient, making a mood be felt more. The problem isn’t the music, but the scenes themselves don’t really have any feeling to them in the first place.

Dialogue: Dialogue in the film is okay. Ator himself almost seems human in the way he talks, and everyone else does a decent job. Info was conveyed well, and wasn’t just used as a lubricant to move the film along.

Logic in the film: The logic in the film is not great. Physics seem to be in order, and working. The big problems with the film is that things happened in the first film, and why none of it is addressed. In the last film he has a wife and it is actually important to the very thin plot, and she just isn’t mentioned at all, and it is confusing and frustrating! The only way I can be okay with this is if they explained that this was an alternate time line, or the director just went “These films aren’t good enough as a set, and I knew that. So, I made the stories different so when they did hopefully play on TV no one thought they were actually related besides perhaps a main character.”

Did I enjoy the film? No, no I did not. Would I recommend it? Also, no. Mystery Science Theater 3000 already ripped into this film and the original, and even then I don’t think they were that entertaining ripping into the films. They are boring, nothing happens in them that is fun or memorable, and is just bland and sterile. Honestly, I hate that I will be watching the other two movies (The next one is another sequel, and the 4^th one is a reboot of sorts). I give the movie a 37.5%. I figured this wouldn’t get better, and it certainly didn’t. This doesn’t mean it is all bad, some parts improved, but the other parts sank this movie into a deeper slump. Well, Until Next Time!