Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Ark of the Sun God 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 21, 2024

Antonio Margheriti's "Ark of the Sun God" (1984) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of 88 Films. The supplemental features on the release include new program with editor Alberto Moriani and assistant director Edoardo Margheriti; new program with production designer Massimo Antonello Geleng; and new audio commentary by critics Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth. In English or Italian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Antonio Margheriti made a career of directing genre films that routinely borrowed and improved material from big and successful American films. He directed some original projects too, but the copycats were the ones that earned him a reputation among film buffs in Italy and abroad. The best of these copycats were well-funded projects that attracted big stars and revealed rather remarkable enthusiasm, which is what made them successful.

Ark of the Sun God fits somewhere between the worst and the best of the copycats Margheriti directed. Its biggest critics insist that it is an undercooked project that fails to be even remotely entertaining. Its biggest fans do not disagree that it has problems, some pretty serious ones too, but claim that it often looks good and is quite entertaining. Perhaps unsurprisingly, both groups agree that it does not deserve to be associated with the film that inspired it, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

While I am not a fan of Ark of the Sun God, I find it easier to side with those who have a more positive take on what it does to impress. It is primarily because of two reasons. The first reason has to do with the fact that Ark of the Sun God is a decent international co-production with a lot of quite nice-looking material that was shot on location in Turkey. When he was hired to direct copycats, Margheriti usually used the resources he had at his disposal to shoot as much such material and as well as he could, and the material that he did for Ark of the Sun God is some of the more attractive I have seen. The second reason has to do with the genuine enthusiasm the star of Ark of the Sun God, David Warbeck, and a few other actors around him reveal. Margheriti and Warbeck made several films together, and it is easy to tell that they had a very good relationship because in all of them each very effectively complimented the other’s work. In Ark of the Sun God, Warbeck has a lot of freedom to improvise, and the enthusiasm he channels through his character allows Margheriti to shoot plenty of material whose quality exceeds that of the finished film.

Unfortunately, the screenplay that Giovanni Paolucci and Giovanni Simonelli handed to Margheritti must have been average at best. Admittedly, scripting an Italian genre film to be seen as a close relative of Raiders of the Lost Ark is essentially a recipe for disaster, but a case can be made that this disaster could have turned its weaknesses into its greatest strengths. After all, the most effective Italian copycats repeatedly used this very trick. In Ark of the Sun God, there is very little such material, and virtually all of it materializes because of Warbeck’s improvisations and enthusiasm.

The screenplay dispatches Warbeck’s character, a notorious American safe cracker, and his sexy girlfriend (Susie Sudlow) to Istanbul, where the former is hired to uncover an ancient scepter that belonged to Gilgamesh. As the safe cracker and a shady character (Ricardo Palacios) reporting to his employer begin gathering information, a local dignitary (Aytekin Akkaya) instructs his men to begin following them, hoping that they would discover the lost Temple of the Sun God, where the scepter is supposed to be. As the safe cracker and his unlikely partner become aware of the men who are following them, a lot that can go wrong goes terribly wrong.

Ark of the Sun God offers uneven but decent entertainment of the kind that Italian copycats were known to offer during the 1970s and 1980s. It looks good, or as good as an Italian copycat should, but lacks a great sense of humor and witty one-liners that could have transformed it into a cult film. It is worth seeing. However, it is not one of the top films in Margheriti’s body of work.

*88 Films presents Ark of the Sun God with original English and Italian tracks. The English track is preferable. However, like the Italian track, it utilizes plenty of overdubbing.

Ark of the Sun God 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

88 Films' release of Ark of the Sun God is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray disc and the Blu-ray disc are Region-Free.

Please note that some of the screencaptures that appear with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc, including the actual color values of this content.

Screencaptures #1-28 are from the Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #31-35 are from the 4K Blu-ray.

The release introduces a new 4K restoration of Ark of the Sun God, which in native 4K can be viewed with Dolby Vision and HDR grades. I chose to view it in its entirety with Dolby Vision and then sampled a few areas with HDR. I also sampled various areas of the 1080p presentation.

The 4K makeover is outstanding. I liked everything that I saw on my system and feel that this release offers the best presentation of an Antonio Margheriti film I have seen to date. In native 4K, with Dolby Vision, Ark of the Sun God has a strikingly beautiful organic appearance that highlights everything that makes 4K Blu-ray special. Delineation, clarity, depth, shadow nuances, fluidity, grain reproduction, and image stability are as good as I hoped they can be. The color grade is fantastic as well. All primaries look lush and very healthy, while the supporting nuances are balanced with outstanding precision. I thought that the shifts from the bright daylight footage to darker footage were particularly impressive because the wide and quite diverse ranges of nuances could not have been reproduced any better. Dolby Vision and HDR both handle these ares equally well, too. What about the 1080p presentation? It is outstanding. In fact, it is so good that I do not think that there is a dramatic discrepancy in quality between the best looking material in native 4K and 1080p. Yes, native 4K does reveal a superior dynamic range, but the 1080p visuals are mightily impressive as well. There are absolutely no traces of problematic digital adjustments. The entire film looks very healthy, too.

Ark of the Sun God 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided only for the Italian track.

I prefer the English track because virtually all actors utter their lines in English. However, the English and Italian track feature overdubbing, and both, unfortunately, reveal plenty of limitations. For example, I had to turn up the volume on my system quite a bit so that I can hear well all exchanges throughout the film. There are a lot of segments with small yet noticeable fluctuations, which of course are inherited. Some dynamic unevenness is present, too.

Ark of the Sun God 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth. The commentators share a lot of information about Antonio Margheriti's career as a director and writer (with some curious comments involving Lucio Fulci), his collaboration with David Warbeck, the conception and production of Ark of the Sun God, the evolution of Italian genre films, etc.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth. The commentators share a lot of information about Antonio Margheriti's career as a director and writer (with some curious comments involving Lucio Fulci), his collaboration with David Warbeck, the conception and production of Ark of the Sun God, the evolution of Italian genre films, etc.

• Assembling the Ark - in this exclusive new program, editor Alberto Moriani and assistant director Edoardo Margheriti recall the work they did with Antonio Margheriti, and discuss the conception and production of Ark of the Sun God and its relationship to Raiders of the Lost Ark. In Italian, with English subtitles. (22 min).

• Sketches and Credits - in this exclusive new program, production designer Massimo Antonello Geleng discusses his contribution to Ark of the Sun God. Mr. Geleng also has some interesting comments about the appearance and genre identity of the film. In Italian, with English subtitles. (18 min).

• Booklet - 16-page illustrated booklet featuring Pier Maria Bocchi's essays "The Italian Blockbuster: Antonio Margheriti and the Eighties" and "John Steiner: The Man with the Golden Laugh".

• Cover - reversible cover with original Italian poster art for Ark of the Sun God.

• Poser - double-sided mini poster.

Ark of the Sun God 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Despite many undeniable flaws, virtually all of which have something to do with the screenplay that was handed to Antonio Margheriti, Ark of the Sun God is a decent Italian copycat worth seeing. Obviously, anyone expecting it to come even remotely close to matching the quality of the film that inspired it, Raiders of the Lost Ark, is guaranteed to have an underwhelming experience with it. This recent combo pack introduces a fabulous 4K restoration that looks incredible in native 4K and 1080p. Both of its discs are Region-Free. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.