The main attraction of 'Revak the Rebel' is Jack Palance. Despite not all his films being great and he was no stranger to overacting in some of his oeuvre, he was on the whole an eminently watchable actor who also had some great performances under his belt and other films of his are very good to great.
'Revak the Rebel' is not one of those very good to great films. Palance has certainly done worse, like the 'Gor' films, 'Che' and 'God's Gun' for examples. This said, as well as being the main attraction into seeing it in the first place Palance is also the best thing about 'Revak the Rebel'. He dominates the whole proceedings with such a charismatic presence and on top of having a suitable intensity he is fun to watch too.
It's a well made film too visually, handsomely mounted and costumed and sweepingly shot. The music score is suitably rousing and atmospheric. Some of the action is compellingly choreographed, especially the bloodthirsty climax, with parts that have a more violent than usual at the time nature that was quite daring back then and doesn't feel too tame now.
However, despite these merits, 'Revak the Rebel' still isn't a particularly good film. Its biggest weak links are a weak script that is cardboard thin, constantly sounds awkward and goes well overboard on the silliness that keeping a straight face is impossible (huge problems for a film so heavy in talk), and a story that has very little to it which makes things drag badly and while the silliness and loopiness had an amusing element at first it quickly grew tiresome.
Direction is often too staid, likewise with some action-oriented scenes that lack tension and seem stiff. The dance sequence goes on for too long and feels like extraneous padding. The characters are not particularly interesting, and other than Palance the acting is a bad mix of bland and overdone.
On the whole, watchable as a one-time watch but not an easy film to rate and not a particularly good one. 5/10 Bethany Cox
'Revak the Rebel' is not one of those very good to great films. Palance has certainly done worse, like the 'Gor' films, 'Che' and 'God's Gun' for examples. This said, as well as being the main attraction into seeing it in the first place Palance is also the best thing about 'Revak the Rebel'. He dominates the whole proceedings with such a charismatic presence and on top of having a suitable intensity he is fun to watch too.
It's a well made film too visually, handsomely mounted and costumed and sweepingly shot. The music score is suitably rousing and atmospheric. Some of the action is compellingly choreographed, especially the bloodthirsty climax, with parts that have a more violent than usual at the time nature that was quite daring back then and doesn't feel too tame now.
However, despite these merits, 'Revak the Rebel' still isn't a particularly good film. Its biggest weak links are a weak script that is cardboard thin, constantly sounds awkward and goes well overboard on the silliness that keeping a straight face is impossible (huge problems for a film so heavy in talk), and a story that has very little to it which makes things drag badly and while the silliness and loopiness had an amusing element at first it quickly grew tiresome.
Direction is often too staid, likewise with some action-oriented scenes that lack tension and seem stiff. The dance sequence goes on for too long and feels like extraneous padding. The characters are not particularly interesting, and other than Palance the acting is a bad mix of bland and overdone.
On the whole, watchable as a one-time watch but not an easy film to rate and not a particularly good one. 5/10 Bethany Cox