I had commented on an earlier post that there was a relative lack of good fantasy adventure movies in the early to mid 80s, when the genre was in its Golden Age of sorts. But I keep finding more great contributions, and Krull is most certainly one of them.
The storyline sounds very familiar, even cliché - a great evil scourge is upon the land and it's up to the descendant of a royal and honorable line to destroy the villains. Fortunately, that's where the similarities with so many other of these films ends.
The villains in particular are fairly original, although as many other reviewers have noted, the inspiration is clearly from Star Wars. They are certainly more menacing and effective (i.e., much better shots) than Stormtroopers. BEGIN SPOILER: And in one particularly tense and poignant scene, we find that the villains are not all one-sided, when an assassin (an alien no less) sent to kill the hero claims she could not complete her task because she had fallen in love with him. END SPOILER
The acting is well done, with the cast consisting primarily of unknown British actors. It's always easier for me to buy a fantastic story when the actors are not familiar. And the comic relief actor is not only excellent, but does not truly distract from the storyline or completely lighten the rather dark mood of the film.
The only reason I did not give this a perfect score is because of the somewhat disappointing ending. I felt it was a little anti-climatic, especially considering the tremendous build up to the final showdown. It seemed almost like the budget was running out and they needed something to wrap it up more quickly.
The flaw was minor, and did not detract from what was an otherwise spectacular adventure. This sort of film is hard to find nowadays, and should please any seeking a grand, epic story. Highly recommended.
The storyline sounds very familiar, even cliché - a great evil scourge is upon the land and it's up to the descendant of a royal and honorable line to destroy the villains. Fortunately, that's where the similarities with so many other of these films ends.
The villains in particular are fairly original, although as many other reviewers have noted, the inspiration is clearly from Star Wars. They are certainly more menacing and effective (i.e., much better shots) than Stormtroopers. BEGIN SPOILER: And in one particularly tense and poignant scene, we find that the villains are not all one-sided, when an assassin (an alien no less) sent to kill the hero claims she could not complete her task because she had fallen in love with him. END SPOILER
The acting is well done, with the cast consisting primarily of unknown British actors. It's always easier for me to buy a fantastic story when the actors are not familiar. And the comic relief actor is not only excellent, but does not truly distract from the storyline or completely lighten the rather dark mood of the film.
The only reason I did not give this a perfect score is because of the somewhat disappointing ending. I felt it was a little anti-climatic, especially considering the tremendous build up to the final showdown. It seemed almost like the budget was running out and they needed something to wrap it up more quickly.
The flaw was minor, and did not detract from what was an otherwise spectacular adventure. This sort of film is hard to find nowadays, and should please any seeking a grand, epic story. Highly recommended.