After the relative success of Castellari's KEOMA, with Franco Nero, Italian director Sergio Martino decided to attempt to best his fellow countryman's movie so made a rip-off very close to the original. This film sees everyone's favourite Franco Nero lookalike Maurizio Merli starring as Blade, whose trick is to kill people with hatchets as opposed to a gun – although as you can imagine, he packs a pistol too, as he doesn't have an unlimited supply of those hatchets.
The film is eventful rather than ground-breaking, with a fair few twists and surprises to keep viewers engaged, and there's plenty of action and violence going around for genre fans. The plot contains the usual genre staples, from ruthless and greedy mine owners to the prostitute with the heart of gold, but the script is deeper and more real than one would expect and Martino is a sure bet as director, taking everything in his stride. In addition, the camera-work is pretty darned great and the score memorable – including a Nero impersonator wailing on the soundtrack as in KEOMA (Merli himself, perhaps?).
The acting? It's fun, excitable stuff, typical in Italian genre films such as these. Merli kicks backside as usual but also goes a bit deeper, doing plenty of soul-seeking. Leroy is a veteran actor who puts in a hounded turn as the old bloke with a conscience and John Steiner is evil incarnate as the sadistic, arrogant villain Voller. Aside from some turns from Italian regular players, kudos to Donald O'Brien, putting in a wry, expressive turn as criminal Burt Craven, who stars in the opening scene as he loses a hand to Blade. Packed with requisite explosions, shoot-outs, muddy fist-fights, and a rather nasty torture/burial in the sand, this is typical stuff, but always interesting even at its lowest ebb.
The film is eventful rather than ground-breaking, with a fair few twists and surprises to keep viewers engaged, and there's plenty of action and violence going around for genre fans. The plot contains the usual genre staples, from ruthless and greedy mine owners to the prostitute with the heart of gold, but the script is deeper and more real than one would expect and Martino is a sure bet as director, taking everything in his stride. In addition, the camera-work is pretty darned great and the score memorable – including a Nero impersonator wailing on the soundtrack as in KEOMA (Merli himself, perhaps?).
The acting? It's fun, excitable stuff, typical in Italian genre films such as these. Merli kicks backside as usual but also goes a bit deeper, doing plenty of soul-seeking. Leroy is a veteran actor who puts in a hounded turn as the old bloke with a conscience and John Steiner is evil incarnate as the sadistic, arrogant villain Voller. Aside from some turns from Italian regular players, kudos to Donald O'Brien, putting in a wry, expressive turn as criminal Burt Craven, who stars in the opening scene as he loses a hand to Blade. Packed with requisite explosions, shoot-outs, muddy fist-fights, and a rather nasty torture/burial in the sand, this is typical stuff, but always interesting even at its lowest ebb.