The Ark of the Sun God

The ever likable David Warbeck headlines in this highly enjoyable Raiders Of The Lost Ark inspired yarn as a professional burglar/safe cracker hired by a rich British Lord (John Steiner) to locate and retrieve a priceless artifact (a sacred sceptre) from a lost temple somewhere deep in the Turkish desert.

This being tauted as an all action film however, you can probably imagine that the task proves far more complex and dangerous than initially sounding as the artifact is also craved by some less than pleasant individuals who wish to get hold of the sceptre for their own nefarious ends and who most certainly do NOT wish to share it with anyone else.

Plenty of the promised action inevitably ensues with a plethora of high speed car chases (which utilise some cool looking Gerry Anderson style model work), fist fights, shoot outs and James Bond style intrigue together with a healthy dose of humour which all add up to produce a highly satisfying 90 or so minutes.

Warbeck is on top form here and is ably supported by a great cast which includes the previously mentioned and always great value John Steiner, and perennial favourite Luciano Pigozzi (who appears to be in pretty much EVERY Italian B-movie ever made!!!)

Tremendous fun from beginning to end, this is typically rip roaring stuff from the ever dependable Antonio Margheriti and is certainly well worth watching.

My review was written in July 1986 after watching the film on Trans World Entertainment video cassette.

After filming the fantasy "Yor, the Hunter from the Future" there, Italian filmmaker Antonio Margheritti returned to Turkey in 1983 to shoot "The Ark of the Sun God", a subpar entry in his series of imitative adventure films. Pic debuted domestically on video cassette.

British thesp David Warbec (veteran of 10 Italian films to date) gets to play a British character for a change, sa Rick Spear, a London cracksman sent to Istanbul on a cockeyed mission: he's to find the temple of the Sun God which is the resting place of Gilgamesh. A legendary jeweled scepter of the king is inside and can be used as a limitless source of power to the bearer. Because the golden door is booby-trapped (with the entire temple set to self-destruct), a master burglar like Spear is needed for the job.

If this sounds a bit like "Raiders of the Lost Ark", it's because Margheritii earlier raided that hit with an interesting variation, "The Hunters of the Golden Cobra". This time there's too much padding, as Sperar is tested and then goes hunting for the site, aided by a survivor of a mission over 40 years earlier, Beetle (Alan Collins).

The Turkish locations are again impressive, but this "Ark" doesn't pic up steam until the final reels containing cliffhanger derring-do in the em=emple and caverns surrounding it.

Soundtrack features a lovely romantic theme but elsewhere pointlessly includes the main theme from "Battlestar Galactica".

The story of a safe cracker hired to help find a lost scepter thats hidden in a lost tomb is nothing more than an entertaining diversion. No, its no where near the level of say an Indiana Jones film or some of the great Hollywood action films, however it is an entertaining little film, perfect for a rainy weekend afternoon. An Italian/Turkish co-production this film sports sights that are not the sort you've seen a thousand times before, indeed it appears to have been filmed in the much under used cities and county side of Turkey. The story is good and moves along nicely. The actors, many of which are Euro-trash and exploitation regulars handle themselves nicely. You'll forgive the lack of detail, but this is a simply a good mindless movie thats worth seeing, even though it will disappear from your brain not long after.

I wholeheartedly agree with the other commenter who referred to "Ark of the Sun God" as a reunion of the dream team that previously made the similarly themed "Hunters of the Golden Cobra". Director Margheriti and cult cinema actors David Warbeck and John Steiner (and, optionally, Luciano Pigozzi as well) really do form a dream team and their exciting and adrenalin-rushing Indiana Jones imitations are truly a must for all fans of the Italian exploitation industry. Personally, I think "Ark of the Sun God" isn't half as action-packed and memorable as the aforementioned "Hunters of the Golden Cobra", but it still is a far above average and amusing adventure-movie with likable characters and some impressively spectacular stunts. David Warbeck portrays the acclaimed safe-cracker Rick Spears, traveling with his sexy girlfriend to Istanbul supposedly for a routing burglary job. It quickly turns out his hirers wanted to test his skills and entice him into accepting a much more adventurous job, namely the search for the lost Temple of the Sun God with its entrance gate of pure gold and the incredibly valuable scepter hidden somewhere in the tomb of the king. The journey to trace down the Temple is full of dangerous traps and the ill-tempered descendant of the Sun God also sends his troops after Rick to recover the treasures. "The Ark of the Sun God" (the "Ark"-part is presumably just to cash-in on "Raiders of the Lost Ark", as there's not an ark in sight) is a simple and straightforward adventure movie without much pretension, but with a lot of heart and spirit. It's simultaneously a buddy-movie with fun dialogs and comical situations and an action flick with delightfully fake car chases and virulent shootouts. Antonio Margheriti's direction is taut & fast as always, since he had an average of 3 films per year to deliver, and the majority of the cast clearly had an awesome time starring in this light-headed cult production. Although the ratings and reviews for this film are better, I would like to encourage fans to track down "The Hunters of the Golden Cobra". It simply has more ingenious action bits, including plane crashes, truck explosions, spiders, snake pits, cockfighting, black magic, spells, poisonous darts and volcano eruptions.

ARK OF THE SUN GOD is an INDIANA JONES & 007 copy that's an okay time waster. The real reason to watch this Italian made film is David Warbeck (THE BEYOND) who's a great action star, imo. He would have made a fun James Bond. The production values are good. I really enjoyed the car chase made with models, not real cars. And some of the effects at the end were pretty good. But the whole film is hampered by a grubby look/feel about it (dark and dreary sets; the two old and overweight men at Warbeck's side) and a vivid sense of Deja Vu for anyone who has already seen YOR, THE HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE, which sorta keeps it from being more fresh and fun. And that stupid song was really annoying. But it's a must-see for fans of David Warbeck. Those who don't know him or Italian cinema in general will probably not like this though.