The late Peter Yates’ 1983 fantasy epic “Krull” is a fascinatingly strange bouillabaisse of ideas. Like “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe,” it blends medieval wizardry with high-tech science fiction. The story follows a brave hero named Colwyn (Ken Marshall) who has to rescue his kidnapped bride Lyssa (Lysette Anthony) from a giant, evil monster known only as the Beast. Tapping into the fantasy aspects of the story, Colwyn and Lyssa have shared fire superpowers, passed between them via a magical baptismal font at their wedding. Once Lyssa is kidnapped, Colwyn is tasked with finding a mystical, five-pronged weapon called the Glaive, a shuriken version of Excalibur. There is a magical shapeshifter, a cyclops, and on-screen wizardry. The Beast’s Black Fortress is protected by a spell that causes it to relocate entirely every day. Liam Neeson played a jocular, axe-throwing bandit named Kegan. He was recruited by Colwyn to be a member of his fellowship. The Fellowship of the Glaive, if you will.
But then there are technological aspects to the story as well. The Beast’s footsoldiers are all high-tech robots called Slayers, and they are armed with laser guns. And it turns out the Black Fortress is not a mystical building, but an interplanetary spacecraft that causes mayhem throughout the galaxy.
“Krull” came at a time when special effects-based fantasy thrillers were making huge amounts of money (due mostly to the success of “Star Wars” in 1977), and it opened with an enormous ad campaign, tie-in products, and a pretty notable budget of about $30 million (“Star Wars,” in contrast, cost $11 million). The film tanked spectacularly, making only $16.9 million. For years, “Krull” was used as a buzzword among cult film enthusiasts as a symbol of how fantasy movies don’t always work.
But here’s the thing: “Krull” does work. It’s actually quite entertaining.
Krull was supposed to be a big deal
As mentioned, “Krull” was supposed to be a big deal. “Star Wars” proved that toys and tie-in merch could make beaucoup bucks, something that wasn’t typically considered by film studios before 1977. After “Star Wars,” multiple films tried to drum up interest in their movies through elaborate ad campaigns and action figure deals. “Krull” had a board game, and Atari put out a video game for the Atari 2600. A pinball machine was designed, but it was never actually built.
As recounted by the website The Moving Image (recounted by Gozmodo), “Krull” also offered a sweepstakes wherein the winner would be given, free of charge, a “Krull”-themed wedding. Someone had a “Krull” wedding thanks to this promotion, and, golly, someone needs to find the lucky couple and interview them. Additionally, local donut shops were said to bake “Krullers” for hungry patrons. Also, Columbia Pictures was considering hiring a large black van to drive around Los Angeles and park in visible locations, said to teleport around the landscape like the Beast’s Black Fortress. That last promo was never put into motion.
Clearly, Columbia was trying an experiment: can clever marketing sell a mediocre movie? In this case, it didn’t work, and audiences stayed away in droves. Even at the time, critics called it derivative, seeing that “Krull” was clearly trying to ape the fantasy conceits that had become a ubiquitous part of the movie landscape by 1983. Siskel & Ebert gave it two thumbs down.
There are some of us, though, who have fallen victim to nostalgia, and find “Krull” to be charming, even if it is derivative. As film critic Alonso Duralde is fond of asking, regarding: nostalgia, “Is it great, or were you eight?” In the case of “Krull,” a lot of us were eight. But there are elements of the movie that are, despite nostalgia, legitimately great. /Film certainly liked it.
The special effects in ‘Krull’ are pretty cool
Colwyn is a pretty typical hero character, so unflappable as to be boring. It’s the people around him that are interesting. Some may find the shape-shifting wizard Ergo (David Battley) to be a little annoying, but he is a perfectly amusing supporting player, and Liam Neeson (the star of at least 15 great films) can’t help but bring his trademark rough charm to his handsome bandit. Most striking is Bernard Bresslaw as Rell, the Cyclops, a powerful warrior. Robbie Coltrane also has a small role as a tertiary bandit, although his voice was dubbed over in post-production. Also, Lysette Anthony plays a mere damsel in distress, but she infuses the part with as much personality as she can.
The special effects in “Krull” are fun. There is a sequence wherein horses go thundering across the landscape, and one can see fire blasting from their hooves. The miniature Black Fortress is impressive, as is an outsize spider who lives in a complex cave of webbing. The spider sequence is a highlight. The Beast is also pretty cool looking, being a giant with a shark-like face. The Beast is part dragon, part space alien.
Also — and this is only a concern for little kids — but the Glaive is cool. Like the lightsabers in “Star Wars,” it’s the kind of movie prop that little kids can imagine themselves handling. At the very least, they would want to buy a reproduction to play with.
“Krull” rests on a curious matrix. It’s not low-budget enough to be seen as a scrappy, ambitious work from an auteur, but it’s not slick enough to be counted alongside its more successful 1980s fantasy counterparts (like, say, “Conan the Barbarian” and “Return of the Jedi”). For some, however, it fulfills the needs of both, being both a fun studio product as well as an underdog also-ran.
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