Krull (1983)

During the summer of 1983, it was hard to escape the hype of Krull, an epic fantasy adventure movie that was being heralded by marketing campaigns as the next Star Wars. Ads appeared on the back of comic books and Starlog magazine. Basically, anywhere a young nerd like myself would be focusing his attention. The advertisements prominently featured the Glaive, a five-bladed Frisbee-looking weapon that the hero wielded against evil. Who needs a lightsaber when you’ve got the Glaive?

I remember thinking it looked kind of dumb. I was 15 and slowly starting to turn my attention away from science fiction movies and programming my Commodore 64. My attention turned to figuring out how to look like I had zero interest in any of those things. Even more so when a girl was within earshot. (Of course, I didn’t lose any interest in those things, I just had to suppress the appearance that I had.)

So for 41 years, give or take, I pretty much ignored Krull. Even though I’d heard through friends and the Internet that it was cheesy fun. Over the years, I’ve since seen plenty of other 1980s fantasy movies that fit that same description. Krull just fell through the cracks. Until now.

The film opens with a very Star Wars-like sequence with a large object moving away from the camera towards a planet. Although it is a spaceship, it doesn’t immediately look like one. In fact, it looks more like a giant, triangular fragment of wood. As the gargantuan piece of wood rotates into landing position and enters the atmosphere, we learn via a very serious-sounding narrator, that the planet is named Krull. The “wooden” spaceship is actually the Black Fortress, the home of The Beast, who commands an army of Slayers. The Beast plans to use his Slayers to overtake Krull.

Standing in his way are the two kingdoms of Krull. Princess Lyssa (Lysette Anthony) chooses Prince Colwyn (Ken Marshall) as her husband hoping that the combination of their kingdoms can fight The Beast and repel the Slayers. Unfortunately, before their marriage ceremony is complete, Slayers infiltrate Princess Lyssa’s castle and defeat their forces, severely injuring Prince Colwyn, and kidnapping Princess Lyssa.

Prince Colwyn awakens thinking he’s the sole surviving royalty of Krull. Nursing him back to health is Ynyr (Freddie Jones, who also serves as the very serious narrator heard earlier,) who Colwyn refers to as “The Old One.” Ynyr tells him that Lyssa has been taken by The Beast. He also tells Colwyn that he stands no chance against The Beast without the Glaive, the aforementioned five-bladed Frisbee. Ynyr knows where it is, but Colwyn must prove himself worthy by locating it in a cave and letting it decide if he can wield it. And thus begins the first of many quests that Colwyn and Ynyr must undertake on their way to find the Black Fortress to free Lyssa and save the planet of Krull.

As the film ran on, several things became evident. The musical score by James Horner was written as if to make every scene sound epic. No matter what happens, the music boldly erupts as if it were the first time it’s happened on film. The magnificently ambitious art and set decoration occasionally outstretch the budgetary and technological grasp of the early 80s. Some of the sets are matte paintings, some are practical constructions, and others are impressively huge sound-stage monstrosities like the ones used the swamp scenes. All of them have a “go big or go home” mindset behind them.

After the sets were built, the wardrobe department apparently received the rest of the budget. The Slayers’ armor doesn’t look very practical, but it is instantly recognizable. With his striped spandex leggings, Prince Colwyn looks like he could jump off his horse and behind the mic stand at a Krokus concert circa 1983. Most of the band of rag-tag criminals he and Ynyr assemble — including a young Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane —  could also pass for either a British heavy metal band or their enthusiastically dressed audience members. No matter what anyone is wearing, the stitching always looks impeccable.

Whatever pennies could be saved by cutting a corner here and there were spent on fight choreography and special effects. The opening battle at Colwyn and Lyssa’s wedding features some of the slowest sword-fighting I’ve ever seen committed to film. (I’ve since read that months of training had to be thrown out the window due to limitations imposed by the costumes at the time of filming. You’d think someone would have taken that into consideration beforehand, eh?) I can’t fault the effects technicians’ creativity when it comes to the visuals, though. The technology of the time just didn’t exist to pull off some of the ideas that they had in mind. One effect requiring a human to transform into an animal and back again actually looks amazing when you consider it was achieved without the use of computers. As much as I hate the overuse of CGI in today’s films, a little assistance from present-day computer effects would actually elevate Krull‘s overall appearance several levels. But it would also take away some of the film’s charm.

And, that odd charm really helps Krull overall. Somehow, when you take all of its flaws, goofy characters, and delusions of grandeur and add in the seemingly never-ending quest for the next object or person that will lead our hero to defeat the villain, it becomes kind of fun. But only if you let it. If you overthink it and over-analyze it, you’ve missed the point entirely. I was right, at 15 years old, when I said it looks kind of dumb. It is kind of dumb. But it’s dumb fun.