Review of War Gods of Babylon

The noble, wise King Sardanapolo (a solid performance by Hoaward Duff) and his more soft and naive younger brother Prince Sammash (likable Luciano Marin) get into a bitter feud over the affections of sweet and alluring innocent peasant girl Mirra (gorgeous redhead stunner Jocelyn Lane). Meanwhile, the treacherous and ruthlessly ambitious General Arbace (a perfectly hateful Giancarlo Sbragia) plots against both siblings. Sounds pretty gripping and exciting, right? Well, alas it just ain't. Director Silvio Amadio gets the film off to a sluggish start and unfortunately fails to gain any momentum later on, thus allowing the picture to grind along at a pretty slow and meandering rate. Moreover, the talky script by Gino De Santis, Diego Fabbri, and Sergio Spina becomes bogged down in drippy soap opera-style situations and way too much banal dialogue. This film only occasionally bursts to life with the sporadic exciting moment: a thrilling lion hunt, a few stirring rough'n'ready swordfights, and a rousing large scale last reel flood. The capable cast do their best with the static material. Both Tino Santoni's lush widescreen cinematography and the spirited score by Carlo Savini, Mario Mascimbene, and Angelo Francesco Lavagnino are up to par. Watchable, but overall really blah and hence instantly forgettable.