The Arislan saga ends in Part 3 and 4, however "ends" does not mean a conclusion for the Palsean dilemmas.
In standard action movie rubric, a lot of the narrative involves setting up the final confrontation or battle.
Clint Eastwood doesn't just ride up and shoot the bad guys in the first act, the Death Star doesn't explode before
it demonstrates its awesome power to the alliance, and ET doesn't shoot the moon until he almost dies in the bubble
wrapped house. The convention of set-up provides a sense of satisfaction at the end of an unfolding narrative.
"The Heroic Legend of Arislan's" plot ignores this crucial aspect of storytelling, as well as any other progressive
alternative, and ends without so much as a firecracker.
After investing two hours in the first two parts, logically the last two parts should provide some closure in
this saga. They don't. Instead of resolving problems and sewing up gaping holes in "Arislan's" voluminous narrative,
the final "Arislan" installment (combining episodes 3 and 4 on a single one-hour tape) raises more questions in an
already tangled plot, and introduces more characters to an already over-populated cast.
These new cast members are even more unnecessary than their predecessors. Arislan, Daryoon, Narsus and Gieve
already provide a more than adequate good-guy presence in the series just as Silvermask, Zante, and their cronies
fulfill their roles as the minions of evil to the point of overkill. Now, in the final chapters of the story, the
One-Eyed Lion and Heltash lumber into the plot, clumsily complicating matters further. Are they good guys? Are they
bad guys? No one knows. Silvermask makes new acquaintances, too. Fifteen minutes before the movie ends, he begins
talking with a new dark wizard, despite the three or four others on his payroll from previous episodes.
The wizard speaks about the Sword of Sovereignty and how it possesses the power to determine the true ruler
of Palse. If this thing really exists, why hasn't anyone mentioned using it before? It would save a lot of time
wasted on riding around on horses, sword fighting and sitting around brooding about how much everyone hates their
enemies. Anyway, no one finds this occurrence strange and the story continues unfettered.
Actually, the story plods right through the end of the movie, or rather, the erroneously termed "end." After all
this time preparing to slaughter each other, the two armies finally face down - soldiers stand ready with swords,
cavalrymen sit upon their steeds. Then one of the characters starts spouting off a bunch of psycho-babble about the
nature of men and how deep and meaningful everything should be. Jump cut to a shot of Arislan musing on his horse,
and then ... the movie stops.
This is arguably a stroke of genius on the filmmakers' part, leaving the ending so open-ended, virtually impregnated
with existential wonder. Yeah right. The abrupt ending annoys, frustrates and enrages because after spending so much time
and energy trying to figure out the entangled plotlines, it would be nice to see a conclusion to this cinematic fiasco.
This movie is all setup and no payoff with a pseudo-philosophical climax worthy of end notes on "Fantasy Island."
The conclusion of "The Heroic Legend of Arislan" is much like the rest of the series - an astonishing disappointment.