This seems to be the Turkish answer to the Hercules/ Sword and Sandal movies that were being cranked out in the 1960's. We have fights, blood, topless women, supernatural beings, and enough seriousness to make this more than just a silly adventure film. Its also one of five films that Turkish film makers made in the late 60's and early 70's with the same character.
The plot set in medieval Europe has something to do with an evil lord raising someone from the dead and then running rough shod over the countryside. He kidnaps one of his enemies wife and child. The woman is raped, killed and her body sent back to her husband. With the help of Tarkan and his dog, the grieving warlord takes revenge. Please forgive the lack of details but I saw this with out benefit of any English translation (the plot is rather straight forward so its very easy to follow, though details, like names, are lost).
Made on a budget that allows for some sense of place and reality this is a wonderful swords and sorcery/sandal type of film. Unlike some Turkish films of the same time you don't have 1960's mod clothing pretending to be what was worn 700 years earlier. The fights tend to be a bit inept, however this gives them a feeling of being very much comic book like or perhaps "intentionally stylistic". The acting is earnest and not over the top (The bad guy reminds me of Jaquim Phoenix in Gladiator, only slightly more mad). There are lots of nice touches like weird traps the villain has in his castle. It seems that a great deal of care went into this movie.
I really liked this movie. I've been seeing a good number of Turkish films lately and its nice to see one that is a serious attempt at being more than just a goofy romp. I'm also a sucker for a really well done fantasy film so this was doubly up my alley.
If you want to try a really good fantasy film from somewhere other than Italy, Spain or one of the usual suspect countries give this a shot. Personally I liked it so much I'm going to try to track down the other four films in the series.
