Review of Krull (1983) by Ola G — 01 Jan 2017

The planet Krull is invaded by an entity known as the "Beast" and his army of futuristic "Slayers", who travel the galaxy in a mountain-like spaceship called the Black Fortress. In a ceremony involving exchanging a handful of flame between the newlyweds, Prince Colwyn (Ken Marshal) and Princess Lyssa (Lysette Anthony) plan to marry and form an alliance between their rival kingdoms in the hope that their combined forces can defeat the Beast's army. The Slayers attack the wedding before it is completed, killing the two kings, devastating both armies and kidnapping the princess. Prince Colwyn is found and nursed by Ynyr (Freddie Jones), the Old One. Ynyr tells him the Beast can be defeated with the "Glaive", an ancient, magical, five-pointed throwing weapon. Colwyn retrieves the Glaive from a high mountain cave before setting out to track down the Black Fortress, which teleports to a new location every day at sunrise. As they travel, Colwyn and Ynyr are joined by magician Ergo "the Magnificent" (David Battley) and a band of nine thieves, fighters, bandits and brawlers. Colwyn offers to clear their criminal records, successfully enlisting Torquil (Alun Armstrong), Kegan (Liam Neeson), Rhun (Robbie Coltrane), Oswyn (Todd Carty), Bardolph (Dicken Ashworth), Menno (Bill Weston), Darro (Andy Bradford), Nennog (Bronco McLoughlin), and Quain (Gerard Naprous). The cyclops Rell (Bernard Bresslaw) later joins the group. The search for Princess Lyssa and the "Beast" puts Prince Colwyn and his band of fighters in all sorts of difficulties...

Some critics offered praise for the film. Janet Maslin, reviewing Krull for The New York Times, found the film to be "a gentle, pensive sci-fi adventure film that winds up a little too moody and melancholy for the Star Wars set"; she praised director Yates for "giving the film poise and sophistication, as well as a distinctly British air," as well as "bring[ing] understatement and dimension to the material". Baird Searles described Krull as "an unpretentious movie . . . with a lot of good things going for it", noting the film as "very beautiful, in fact, a neglected quality in these days when it seems to have been forgotten that film is a visual medium". The Aurum Film Encyclopedia called Krull "a likeable, if lightweight, mix of sword and sorcery and science fiction" and expressed admiration for the "engaging characters who surround the pallid hero and heroine...and some nicely judged action sequences".

Peter Yates "Krull" from 1983 has this mix of sword & sorcery and science fiction trying to blend Star Wars with Lord of The Rings and as far as I remember seeing it back then I liked it, but re-seeing it today I see a poor mans adventure flick with crappy special effects, bad script, cheesy studio sets, theatrical acting and with a general campiness to it. It was a bit painful to watch it as it hardly is up to scratch today and in my opinion "Krull" isn´t really worthy of a cult status either. When reading that the picture was one of the most expensively produced motion pictures of its time you wonder where the money went in one way, but the production did utilize ten sound stages at Pinewood Studios, including the biggest of them all, the gigantic 007 Stage, which was used for the exteriors of the swamp sequence. And I reckon that do cost money. My only treat in this film was to see the beautiful Francesca Annis as the Widow of the Web. "Krull" is a movie I won´t come back to re-visit again.