It's the time of Attila the Hun's (Oktar Durukan) campaigns against the Eastern Roman Empire and expansion of his own Empire. Of course, both the Romans under Emperor Valentinian III (Kayhan Yildizoglu) and the Vandals under Genseriko (Mümtaz Ener) fear the brave Huns, but they have heard of the legendary sword of the war god Mars that makes its bearer ruler of the world, and of course want to get their hands on it. But of course, Attila has learned of the sword as well, so he sends Tarkan (Kartal Tibet), a lone drifter but patriot and expert fighter, and Tarkan's dog Kurt, to track it down. Tarkan soon runs into a former Roman gladiator who's also after the sword, and at times they team up, at times the are rivals, at one time Tarkan's captured by the Romans, then by the Vandals - where he escapes by sleeping with Genseriko's daughter (Lale Belkis) - and eventually he ends up in a castle under siege by the Vandals who have taken his fiancée hostage and use her as human shield ... but of course he always knows a way out, and eventually finds the sword, and manages to kill Genseriko and his craziest henchman retrieving it, and he ultimately delivers it to Attila - but chooses to remain a drifter rather than become the Emperor's subject ...

Tarkan is, objectively speaking, not a good movie: Its plot is overly simplistic and unnecessarily convoluted at the same time, and seems more like a vehicle for its action scenes rather than betting on narrative stringency. And let's face it, the action scenes aren't really that good, the stunting is a bit too obviously done in a way so nobody gets hurt, while the weapons and armour used are a bit too obviously fake to give the fight scenes any sense of real danger. But that's not to say one can't get some enjoyment out of the film still: Basically, the film just seems to take great pleasure in spinning its rather naive yarn, the direction is actually rather slick, at least partly glossing over the shortcomings mentioned above, and the use of mostly bright and primary colours throughout make this look comicbook-like in a good way (and after all, this movie's based on a comicbook), while the film's very sketchy and primal characterizations only add to its naive charm. Sure, any serious cineaste will probably choose not to touch this with a stick, but those who can enjoy exotic pulp cinema should really try to track it down ...

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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