Krull

In the wake of Star Wars, fantasy films about brave heroes trying to rescue kidnapped princesses were suddenly in demand. Krull was one such film to jump aboard the band-wagon. There are also elements here of Robin Hood (the costumes look like they've been borrowed from natives of Sherwood Forest, and the hero is aided by a rogue's gallery of "merry men") and Perseus and Andromeda (the hero has to complete several mini-tasks before he can get on with his main quest).

Prince Colwyn (Ken Marshall) has just married the beautiful Princess Lyssa (Lysette Anthony) when their city is raided and the princess is kidnapped. She is taken away to a heavily defended citadel. Colwyn sets off to rescue her, and during the course of his quest he picks up additional companions, including a bumbling magician (David Battley), a courageous cyclops (Bernard Bresslaw), and a gang of honourable bandits (which includes Alun Armstrong, Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane).

Krull is highly derivative, but reasonably entertaining. The special effects are decent for the time, but probably look a little primitive to over-spoilt modern eyes. Marshall's leading performance is extraordinarily bland, but his unashamed earnestness actually becomes part of the fun once you get used to the fact that he's trying desperately to play it seriously (without a shred of success!) The supporting characters are more interesting and are fairly well-played (despite the hopelessly hokey dialogue they have to contend with). In general, Krull is a likable movie which tries to keep up its lively pace, and manages to provide a fair number of thrills for youngsters and sci-fi afficianados. If you don't expect too much from it, you'll come away satisfied.

The planet Krull has been invaded by a great evil The Beast. Two kingdoms have joined through the planned marriage of Princess Lyssa (Lysette Anthony) and Prince Colwyn (Ken Marshall). At the wedding, the forces of The Beast attack, kidnapping the princess, and massacring everyone else. Sole survivor Colwyn joins with a band of disparate characters on a quest to kill The Beast and rescue the princess.

This is a very simple good versus evil storyline. It's a quest road movie. David Battley is especially funny as the incompetent magician Ergo. All the iconic characters are there including the great Alun Armstrong as the bandit leader Torquil. And sharp eyes will see a younger Liam Neeson.

This along with Dragonslayer is my favorite British fantasy of that era. The stories are original and yet comfortably familiar. It had the FX but CG would soon make the miniature models and real sets old school. It didn't help that Return of the Jedi came out right before this. This movie has great cheese appeal, but is outclassed in production value by Jedi.

I grew up in the 80s with my grandparents renting this on VHS over and over again. It's one of thouse movies that took me back then by storm. It has a bit of Star Wars and a bit of Sword in the stone/King Arthur mixed in to this perfect fantasy like adventure movie. From start to finish there is a pretty fast pace through everything. And no part felt boring for a child in the 80s in this movie. Great effects for it's time that might look outdated by todays CGI standards, but that shouldent take away much if your looking for a Classic Sci-fi fantasy movie from the 80s. And this one actually has the most amazing weapon used in any movie out there period. I think all actors did great in this movie and some of them became big or known stars later on in their carrer. And Ken Marshall should have been one of them in my opinion. Krull has a very special vibe to it, that is hard to describe in words. So give it a go if you havent, and enjoy the adventure in this Classic tale of good vs exil.

I remember that when i saw this for the first time i wasn´t very impressed. I remember that i didn´t like the "laser" beams that came out of the bad guys weapons. I remember thinking KRULL wanted to be a STAR WARS but it wasn´t very good at it.

Then as the years passed, i got to watch KRULL on video, and somehow i started realy to like this movie. By this time i had read a couple of fantasy books and i started to appreciate the attention to details in KRULL and the way the whole concept was organized as a movie.

Since then, each time i see it, i realy enjoy it more. Ok, it´s not the perfect fantasy movie, but compared to the usual more recent unimaginative excuses for movies that come out of Hollywood, (see "Neverending Story III" or "Warriors of Virtue"), this movie KRULL is a brilliant fantasy masterpiece.

KRULL has an excelent and different atmosphere, a much, much better script than WILLOW, excellent characters, a fantastic magic weapon, a good set design and it follows the Dungeon and Dragons formula in a very imaginative way, compared to the more recent movies.

The actors do their jobs well, (try to spot Leam Neeson) the situations are imaginative and the soundtrack is realy good and very atmospheric also.

The only minor fault in this production, is the way in wich we can immediately tell, when the outdoor scenes are filmed in indoor studios, because there is immediately a big contrast between the natural magnificent landscapes and the ones that are built in the studio. Which is a shame because sometimes it spoils the movie atmosphere. Anyway, who cares! KRULL is an excellent fantasy movie, and someone should make a directors cut from it and re-release it, because it might teach many hollywood executives how a good fantasy movie should be made. Even with its flaws !

A fantastic High Fantasy movie ! Go see it. It´s a shame this movie is so forgotten. Excelent stuff.

It's hard to rate this film in conventional terms. I am a sucker for this golden age of sci-fi fantasy. I did see it as an adult for the first time, so didn't imprint on it as a child. The good was wonderful and the bad was amusing. It's certainly derivative, but shines in moments of originality.

Plot: 6/10 (derivative fantasy; a cornucopia of Star Wars, Willow, LOTR and other classics) Art direction: 10/10 World/Magic: 10/10 Characters: 6/10 (none evoke much empathy, development is mostly shallow) Acting: 4/10 (mostly - a few good actors stood out) Locations: 9/10 Pace: moves quickly, stays dynamic. Definitely doesn't drag.

Better than Legend, not as good as Willow. Similar in overall style & quality to Labyrinth, except no Bowie, no muppets.

Lowkey cameos by: Galadriel/Shelob, ponyta, Starlord, Highlander, the princess from Legend, Fin Raziel, Sauron, Capt. Archer's beagle, necromongers/stormtroopers/ringwraiths, light sabers, Obi Won, John Carpenter's The Thing, Mt. Doom, Sarumon, Road Warriors, Lothlorien x Death Star, Jodorowsky's Dune. Granted, in some cases this came first. Watch the madness unfold. Enjoy.