The
Film: Krull (1983)
The Principals: Director:
Peter Yates. Ken Marshall, Lysette Anthony, Freddie Jones, Francesca Annis, Alun Armstrong, David Battley, Bernard Bresslaw, Liam Neeson, John Welsh, Graham McGrath, Robbie Coltrane
The Premise: An evil force from another planet descends upon the planet of Krull seeking its conquest. The monstrous leader, known only as the Beast, commands an army of Slayers, mindless cyborgs, from within his gigantic spaceship / mountain edifice, the Black Fortress. In order to combat the Beast’s forces, Princess Lyssa (Anthony) and Prince Colwyn (Marshall) seek to marry and unite their previously feuding kingdoms, to which their fathers, the kings, begrudgingly agree. But before the ceremony can be completed, the Slayers assail the castle, killing everyone, including the two kings, injuring Colwyn and abducting Lyssa. With the Beast planning to marry Lyssa himself, Colwyn must set out on a perilous quest to the Black Fortress to rescue her. To do so, he will need many allies and the power of the Glaive, a mystical five-pointed star that he will use to destroy the Beast.
Is It Good: After watching Krull all the way through for the first time just last night, I’m convinced that I saw it 27 years too late. Had I first seen it as I should have, as an 11-year-old kid, I might have more reverence for it, despite its many flaws. As it is now, I can appreciate pieces of it only and simply endure the rest. The main issue I see with the film overall is too much focus on the unimportant and not enough on what was. Krull sought to be both a grand fantasy, a sci-fi opus and a swashbuckling yarn; but the hodgepodge of genres didn’t always mix well. Plus, there’s so much going on with the film, especially with the characters, that there is never a good sense of any of them. And more than a couple of them aren’t really even needed.
The Beast. Somewhat interesting idea for a baddie. Sort of Creature from the Black Lagoon meets an acid trip. He has a kind of Sauron quality going in the sense that aside from a reach-out-and-touch-someone moment, he never really gets in on the action until the finale. For most of the movie, his henchmen, the Slayers, are the real menace, and considering that they’re each essentially The Hidden in Excalibur armor, they don’t make for the most interesting bad guys. Also, considering that the Black Fortress is in actuality a space ship, and the Beast from another world, but we never get a glimpse of any other world, that whole milieu doesn’t even really seem necessary. Seems more like an attempt to shoehorn in some sci-fi where it probably wasn’t needed. This would have played just as well as a straight fantasy and sword and sorcery piece… considering that that mostly is what it was anyway.
Both Marshall and Anthony play their roles with some aplomb, but their love affair, which was depicted as a marriage of necessity, was never given the chance to really establish any traction. Likewise, most of Colwyn’s wide supporting cast were little more than Red Shirts and thus any relevance with the majority of them is not to be found. Also, Ynyr and the Seer probably should have been the same character. But having the Seer, who proved to be essentially a useless character, was just another rung in the formulaic ladder that the movie had to climb. Speaking of useless, why was the kid even in the picture? Or Ergo? Comic relief? Didn’t find much of it from David Battley.
Krull was a quest picture: quest for the glaive, quest for allies, quest for the location of the Black Fortress and finally a quest to get there and rescue Lyssa. But too much time was spent in the second act questing for the wrong shit; time that could have been better used for say, strengthening the characters. Could have used more of the glaive; Colwyn learning how to use it or something. You’d think he’d at least have sliced down some branches to help the poor bastard sinking into the swamp.
Is It Worth A Look: The film does have some things going for it. It’s production design and cinematography are noteworthy. The film has that sort of dreamy look and feel to it that other films of the era had. James Horner’s score, while not quite as memorable as Star Trek II, is nevertheless fairly lush. Also, some great location shooting, especially in Colwyn’s mountain climb for the glaive. The film is also high on the cheese from the ’80s I’m all too familiar with. Even so, I’d still put Krull just south of even Red Sonja for ’80s fantasy flicks.
Random Anecdotes: Lysette Anthony’s voice was dubbed over by Lindsay Crouse.
Cinematic Soulmates: Excalibur, Star Wars, Dragonslayer, Legend, Clash of the Titans, Conan the Destroyer, The Lord of the Rings trilogy.