Kull: The Conqueror

I saw the movie on television yesterday evening. When I had looked into the tv magazine I saw that the movie is rather new (1997), but I had never heard of it, which means nothing good. Then I saw that Kevin Sorbo starred in it. I don't have a problem with him, but he's absolutely fixed to that "Hercules"-role, so I knew exactly what to expect. But it wasn't THAT bad. The plot was mediocre, but not ridiculous. The special effects weren't too good, but some looked nice. The scenery looked extremely fake from time to time, but there also were some nice backgrounds and such. It's not really a bad movie, I was not bored when I watched it. If you are a fan of such medieval settings and lower your expectations a bit it might be worth a watch.

5/10

First the good news. This picture has production design worthy of Conan creator Robert E. Howard's legacy. Everything else is bad news. The script is allegedly a many version hand-me-down re-working of the never made third Conan movie, the film in which Conan would finally win the throne of Aquilonia. Instead we get Howard's backup hero (Kull) who takes the throne at the beginning of the film in an un-stirring, non-epic little battle and then loses it quickly to Witch Demon Akivasha (played to the hilt by Tia Carrere who obviously had rare fun as a bad girl). Kull then kills an hour on a very routine quest-to-find-his-right-to-rule and finally returns for the classic Howard showdown between good brawn and evil sorcery. The main problem is Kevin Sorbo, who got so good at playing Hercules in self-spoofing post-modern fashion that he simply doesn't resonate with the necessary authentic bronze age thuggishness of a Howard hero. Here was a chance to play a variation on his usual screen self and he punted it. Too bad. The set decorators captured the proper essence of Robert Howard...

Ok ok, I know, you're not supposed to compare this movie to the Hercules series, but please, Sorbo's acting style is unchanged. Kull kills people in this movie and he's not a half-god, but that's where the differences end. This movie even has a Salmoneus-clone played (hilariously) by Harvey Fierstein. Watch it, enjoy it, but don't expect too much from it.

I like Kevin Sorbo, so I watched the film. It wasn't mentally tasking and it never set out to be. The movie was designed to be campy and it said so. You heard the rock music in the background during the trailer, so why are people so disappointed with it? I still enjoyed it for its dry wit and simplicity. It was a nice flashback to those old Conan movies. I've heard that Kull is Conan's father, and I don't know much about this character from the Conan films, but I dug him. I found him charming. The Conan movies wasn't much in the way of smart either, but people still enjoy it. I liked the combination of modern themes and music with the extremely old school nature of the film. It was like a land before time or something. Watch it if you just wanna watch something and don't expect much.

The screenplay writer must have read Howard's book, since there are literal quotes like `By this axe I rule!', which Kull exclaims during the coronation, yet again, this movie is no serious attempt to capture the raw, barbarian spirit of Howard's heroes. `Kull the Conqueror' reminds me of `Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger' rather than `Conan the Barbarian' or `Hercules'. Exactly like Patrick Wayne, Kevin Sorbo has to sail to the Land of Ice to find a solution to his problem: the evil witch threatening the once peaceful kingdom. `Kull' is nice, colourful adventure, Sinbad with more muscles and less charm, nothing special, but not as bad as some reviewers wrote, either. I'll watch it again on a rainy day. Of course, if you expected another `Conan the Barbarian', you'll be disappointed, but `Conan the Destroyer' and `Red Sonja' were no match for this masterpiece in the past, and `Kull' is at least a bit better than these two.

Tia Carrere as the red-haired witch Akivasha who cannot be killed, for she is living in a fire, is brilliant. Her immediate transition from the enchanting beauty to screaming rage compares to nothing. I still didn't figure out why Sorbo chose the same profession as De Niro and Dustin Hoffman, but he's passable here. Give it a try if you like the genre.