not as good as all the hype

Masterful Movie

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

A most cruel czar is ruling over in Russia around the time of Ivan the Terrible. He's like all rulers greedy for riches and he sends an expedition into the Urals where it's reputed there's an ancient civilization that ruled there once and a lot of loot. The expedition finds some treasure all right of the usual kind. But they also find a sleeping muscle dude in a sarcophagus. A little sprinkle on the pecs and Kirk Morris as Maciste comes alive.And being the peplum hero he is Maciste takes up the people's cause and you know what's going to happen. I'm sure this was the wish dream of many a poor peasant serf under any number of czars.Nothing terribly special here except for a classical hero of the ancient world now working in medieval Russia. The juxtaposition of historical eras is what makes this peplum epic stand out. After that the usual muscle flexing and bad dubbing.

Bizarre but not unappealing peplum epic, which sees muscleman Maciste inexplicably awaking from suspended animation in a Russian mountain after an archaeologist rubs plentiful baby oil into the naked man's chest! If this weird sequence isn't worth watching the film for alone, then there's plenty of strangeness to follow, don't worry. Maciste's survival for centuries in a tomb is never really explained, with our muscular hero feigning memory loss for the production, and similarly we never really do find out what he was doing in Russia in the first place to get tombed up.What follows are typical peplum antics, involving a wicked tyrant who oppresses and whips innocent peasant folk, and Maciste succumbing to the evil influence of said Czar. He nearly has his arms torn from their sockets by wild horses whilst struggling to avoid impalement on a row of swords, and accidentally drinks a wonder-drug that sends him back to sleep for a million years. Despite these pitfalls, Maciste strives out in the end to launch a rock-throwing assault against the Czar and his men.The action sequences in this film are highly amusing. The film-makers seem to be striving to outdo previous pepla by giving sweaty Maciste bigger and better objects to lift. Therefore we have him hauling large rocks at the bad guys and even lifting a colossal table at the end of the movie. The wild horses bit is classic spectacle and highly entertaining. The rest of the plot is fast-paced and the film as a whole is a colourful, wacky delight. Kirk Morris (MACISTE IN HELL) comfortably plays it straight as the musclebound strongman and is supported by some typically ravishing Italian beauties. Genre favourite Massimo Serato (THE LOVES OF HERCULES) seethes, plots and barks orders for all his worth as the wicked tyrant and generally has a good time of it all. A bizarre and utterly different kind of peplum that is easy to watch and never becomes tiresome or a bore, this colourful fantasy is a delight to be enjoyed.

As the "sword-and-sandal" genre inspired by Steve Reeves' "Hercules" began to run out of fresh material, outlandish variations began to appear. One of the most accomplished and amusing is this bizarre melange which has our bare-chested strongman, (referred to in the dubbed dialog as "Maciste"), revived in late-medieval Russia where he fights the tyranny of an evil czar. Just imagine -- Cossacks in fur hats and baggy pants fighting off a muscleman wearing nothing more than a leathery loincloth! Of course it's silly and easily scorned but it's done with a straight face and darn if it doesn't hold one's interest. The sets, by the way, look more Arabian Nights than Moscow and there's not much in the way of spectacle, but leading man Kirk Morris -- despite his unconvincingly "blond" hair -- has an impressive set of pecs. As is usual in these cases, he sweats and strains in glorious fashion as he passes a test of strength and courage involving two teams of horses which try to snap him like a wishbone.