A world light-years beyond your imagination.
I know this will really date me, but I still vividly remember renting movies on VHS tapes. The counter clerk who felt it necessary to announce loudly the films you selected. The friendly sing song reminder to please be kind and rewind your tapes once you have watched them. Did I rewind them? Truth be known, I really don’t remember.
But what I do remember is going through the rows of shelves and picking films basically by what was on their plastic covers. A great deal of time was spent reading through the synopsis and trying to discern if this film was worth paying a few bucks to borrow for a day or so. Basically it was a crap shoot but I was introduced to many a good or bad film by this process. I eventually realized that many of the films that I really liked were not that greatly thought of by critics…or the general public for that matter. Shocking, I know! It was not until a great deal of time passed that these films would start to be appreciated, if nothing else for how bad they really were. This brings up today’s film topic: Krull.
Ancient Krull Prophesy: “A girl of ancient name shall become queen, she shall choose a king, and together they shall rule their world, and their son shall rule the galaxy”.
Krull was a 1983 science fantasy film by Columbia Pictures. It was directed by Peter Yates, produced by Ron Silverman, with a screenplay by Stanford Sherman. The story followed the journey of Prince Colwyn and a ragtag group of outlaws on the Planet Krull. Their quest was to save future queen Princess Lyssa from the Beast (that’s the best name they could come up with?) and his constantly teleporting Black Fortress.
Krull featured an ensemble cast of Ken Marshall as Prince Colwyn, Lysette Anthony as Princess Lyssa, and Trevor Martin as the voice of the Beast. Freddie Jones appeared as Ynyr, while Bernard Bresslaw was Rell the Cyclops. It also included David Battley as Ergo the Magnificent, Tony Church and Bernard Archard as kings and the fathers of Colwyn and Lyssa. In addition there was Alun Armstrong as the leader of a group of bandits that included a young Liam Neeson, and Robbie Coltrane. John Welsh was The Emerald Seer, Graham McGrath appeared as Titch, and Francesca Annis as The Widow of the Web. You really needed your program for that large a cast.
The Story: A Wedding Interrupted
The planet Krull has been invaded by an entity known as the Beast and his army of Slayers. They travel the galaxy in a mountain-like spaceship called the Black Fortress. In order to try to combat the Beast, two rival families decide to have their children, Prince Colwyn and Princess Lyssa marry to form an alliance between their rival kingdoms. It is their hope that their combined forces can defeat the Beast’s army. This ceremony involves exchanging a handful of flame. Most girls prefer a ring. As luck would have it, The Slayers attack before the wedding ceremony is completed. They kill the two kings, run roughshod over both armies, and kidnap the princess Lyssa.
Prince Colwyn, who was injured in the attack, is found and nursed by Ynyr, the Old One. He tells him that the Beast can be defeated with the Glaive, which is an ancient, magical, five-pointed throwing weapon. Kind of a Space Ninja Star. Colwyn journeys to retrieve the Glaive from a high mountain cave. He then sets out to track down the Black Fortress, which teleports to a new location every day at sunrise.
During their travel, Colwyn and Ynyr are joined by magician Ergo “the Magnificent” and a band of nine thieves, fighters, bandits, and brawlers. Basically the Magnificent Nine. To enlist their help, Colwyn offers to clear their criminal records. He is successful in enlisting Torquil, Kegan, Rhun, Oswyn, Bardolph, Menno, Darro, Nennog, and Quain. Later in their venture, the cyclops Rell joins their company.
The Emerald Seer
Colwyn’s group next travels to the home of the Emerald Seer, and his apprentice Titch. The Seer uses his crystal to view where the Fortress will rise. During this time, the Beast’s hand magically appears and crushes the crystal. Realizing their vulnerability to the Beasts magic, the group travels to a swamp that supposedly cannot be penetrated by the Beast’s magic. But once again the Slayers attack, killing Darro and Menno. If that wasn’t enough, an agent of the Beast, who is a changeling, kills the Emerald Seer. He does so before he can confirm the next location of the Fortress, and assumes his form. Eventually, the ruse is discovered and the changing is killed by Rell and Colwyn.
The Widow of the Web
Later, as the group rests in a forest, Kegan (Liam Neeson) goes to a nearby village and gets Merith, one of his wives, to bring food. The Beast decides to take control of Merith’s helper. He has her attempt to first seduce Colwyn, and then kill him which ultimately fails.
Meanwhile, Ynyr leaves the resting group to journey to the “Widow of the Web”, who is an enchantress who loved Ynyr long ago. She was exiled to the lair of the Crystal Spider for the crime of murdering their only child. In one last effort to right her wrongs, The Widow reveals where the Black Fortress will be at sunrise. She also gifts Ynyr with the sand from her enchanted hourglass. It is only this sand that has kept the Crystal Spider from attacking her. She tells him the sand will protect him from the spider and will keep him alive on his journey back to the group. Without the hourglass to protect her, the Crystal Spider attacks the Widow.
Ynyr flees the web, losing sand as he goes. He returns to reveal the location of the Black Fortress. But as he speaks, he loses the last grains of the sand and expires.
The Black Fortress: “Each to his Fate”
Now that they know where the Fortress will be, the need a way to get there in time. To accomplish this, the group capture and ride magical Fire Mares. Only they can run fast enough to reach the Black Fortress before it teleports again. Upon their arrival, Slayers at the Fortress kill Rhun. Meanwhile, Rell sacrifices himself to hold open the slowly closing spaceship doors long enough to allow the others to enter. The mayhem continues as Slayers inside kill Quain and Nennog. The reign of selflessness continues as Kegan sacrifices his life to save Torquil during their journey through the Fortress. Elsewhere, Ergo and Titch get separated from the others and are attacked by Slayers. During the conflict, Ergo magically transforms into a tiger to kill the Slayers and save Titch’s life.
As for Colwyn, He, Torquil, Bardolph, and Oswyn are trapped inside a large dome. Colwyn uses the Glaive to attempt to open a hole, while the other three search for any other passageway. His three compatriots fall through an opening and are trapped between slowly closing walls studded with huge spikes, (obviously from the ACME booby trap department) which kill Bardolph.
The Wedding of Fire
Colwyn is able to make it through the dome and finds Lyssa. He attacks the Beast, injuring it with the Glaive. Unfortunately it becomes embedded in the Beast’s body. With no weapon to defend themselves against the Beast’s counterattack, Lyssa realizes that they must quickly finish the wedding ritual. This is where the fire comes in, giving them the linked power to shoot the flame to finally slay the Beast.
His demise frees Torquil and Oswyn from the spike room and they rejoin Colwyn and Lyssa. Ergo and Titch, also reunite with couple as they make their way out the self-destructing Fortress.
Colwyn and Lyssa are now king and queen of the combined kingdom. They name Torquil as Lord Marshal. As the surviving heroes depart across a field, the narrator repeats the opening prophecy that the son of the queen and her chosen king shall rule the galaxy. Doves fly and all is well. Well not really, but it was a happy ending.
Thoughts:
Krull was a mix between a pirate swashbuckling adventure mixed with a dash of Tolkien and Star Wars. If you read what critics said about the film, they appreciated the effort but the execution left much to be desired. While they were probably right, I found myself liking the film when I first pulled it off the rental shelf. The trick is to REALLY suspend your disbelief and accept the film for what it was. Hokey. It is this hokiness that makes it endearing after all this time.
The special effects haven’t aged well but at the time, they were expensive. In fact the cost of the production outdistanced the money made. Bad news for Columbia, but it matters not now. We get to marvel at fire mares (Clydesdales), armies of Slayers (precursors in appearance to the Chitauri), Cyclops and Crystal Spiders. Yay US!
Overall, if you don’t hold it to the standards of today’s fantasy films, it is kind of fun. But only to a point. I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VMY7gzx9SHA
Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 50 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove head first over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 18 year old boy with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
