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Amazon.co.uk Review
There's something inescapably appealing about Krull, a camp Star Wars-meets-The Lord of the Rings knock-off, that encourages the viewer to overlook it's very many silly shortcomings and simply enjoy the fun. James Horner's rollicking music score--written soon after his similarly memorable contribution to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan--certainly helps, as does the epic-scale CinemaScope photography of the breathtaking Italian landscapes. The costumes and extravagant production design are also great to look at, and much of Derek Meddings' visual effects work still looks striking if not exactly state-of-the-art.
Of the cast, Freddie Jones stands head and shoulders above all others as the Obi Wan Kenobi-meets-Gandalf character Ynyr: his trip to the centre of the spider's web is both genuinely scary and genuinely touching. The two romantic leads, Ken Marshall as the Luke Skywalker-meets-King Arthur clone Prince Colwyn and Lysette Anthony (with an overdubbed American voice) as his Leia-Guinevere Princess Lyssa, are mere formalities on which to hang the plot. Ironic fun can be had with the all-British supporting cast, which includes Todd Carty of Eastenders fame and Carry On's Bernard Bresslaw, as well as Robbie Coltrane, Liam Neeson and the gorgeous Francesca Annis.
On the DVD: Krull comes to DVD in an anamorphic widescreen print, preserving the luscious CinemaScope look of the theatrical release. The Dolby 5.1 sound lives up to the picture. There are two commentary tracks: on the first, director Peter Yates talks through the movie, with contributions from other crew members and leads Ken Marshall and Lysette Anthony. Oddly, the second audio track is just a reading of an article that originally appeared in the November 1982 issue of Cinefantastique magazine. There's also a half-hour "making-of" featurette originally produced to promote the movie at the time, the usual trailer, stills gallery and three talent profiles. --Mark Walker
Video Description
DVD Special Features:
"Journey To Krull" Featurette
2 Commentaries including Feature-Length Commentary by Cast and Crew
4 Galleries including SFX, Production Design and Costume
Behind-the-Scenes and Cast Portraits
Theatrical Trailer
Filmographies
Animated Menus
Multiple Language Choice: English, German, French
Multiple Language Subtitles: English, French, German, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Hindi, Turkish, Danish, Arabic, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Dutch, Norwegian, Greek, Hebrew.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
KRULL of course can not be compared to LOTR, EXCALIBUR or CONAN THE BARBARIAN, but it is a very watchable and quite honest fantasy movie (and there is not a lot of good quality productions in this field).
The story is about the planet Krull where humans reached Middle Age level of development, with some magic involved here and there. Suddenly, one day, an alien spaceship arrives and its one and only crew member, known simply as The Beast, sends his offsprings/soldiers/slaves, half-intelligent Slayers to conquer the planet. Faced with certain destruction two rival kings, rulers of the main powers on Krull, decide to unite their forces by marrying their children and then abdicatiing. By creating one united empire they hope to be able to face the army of Slayers and other other monsters the Beast creates. Unfortunately, The Beast has other plans - and the wedding will be a very tragic one. All of this is just the very beginning of the film...
KRULL is well paced, full of adventures, quite spectacular visually and is reasonably well interpreted. Ken Marshall, whose promising career somehow stopped in the middle of the 80s gives here a very honest performance as Crown Prince Colwyn. Alun Armstrong plays here Torquil the Bandit Leader, who helps Colwyn in his quest - and he really finds here a role right for him and especially for his face... Liam Neeson, who in this time was in the early stages of career, plays another bandit, knife playing Kegan who is Torquil's right hand.
There are many interesting ideas in this movie, which nobody found before and which were not used since. The greatest finding of all was to make the Black Mountain mobile - the main citadel of The Beast is his old giant spaceship, which has the shape of a dark mountain, and which vanishes every day during the sunset, to reappear in a totally different place on the planet. It presents to the heroes a very unique problem... they are all ready to face the villain, the problem is they simply never know where the heck he will be next morning...
Another good finding are the Slayers. We do not know exactly what are they, but it seems they do not have a mind of their own and they certainly never speak. It looks like they are a kind of biological robots, with a part of Beast's living flesh as their hard drive, heart and brain in the same time. They certainly are dangerous - they climb walls, they walk under water and they shoot some primitive energy weapons (one shot per weapon - and clearly they can not reload out of their fortress) before going to close combat with wide blade short spears. There are also some other nice ideas in this movie, but you desserve to discover them by yourself.
All in all, this is a very honest and very watchable fantasy movie, now a little forgotten but worth (re)discovering. Not exactly a masterpiece but a very nice watch.
The story is about the planet Krull where humans reached Middle Age level of development, with some magic involved here and there. Suddenly, one day, an alien spaceship arrives and its one and only crew member, known simply as The Beast, sends his offsprings/soldiers/slaves, half-intelligent Slayers to conquer the planet. Faced with certain destruction two rival kings, rulers of the main powers on Krull, decide to unite their forces by marrying their children and then abdicatiing. By creating one united empire they hope to be able to face the army of Slayers and other other monsters the Beast creates. Unfortunately, The Beast has other plans - and the wedding will be a very tragic one. All of this is just the very beginning of the film...
KRULL is well paced, full of adventures, quite spectacular visually and is reasonably well interpreted. Ken Marshall, whose promising career somehow stopped in the middle of the 80s gives here a very honest performance as Crown Prince Colwyn. Alun Armstrong plays here Torquil the Bandit Leader, who helps Colwyn in his quest - and he really finds here a role right for him and especially for his face... Liam Neeson, who in this time was in the early stages of career, plays another bandit, knife playing Kegan who is Torquil's right hand.
There are many interesting ideas in this movie, which nobody found before and which were not used since. The greatest finding of all was to make the Black Mountain mobile - the main citadel of The Beast is his old giant spaceship, which has the shape of a dark mountain, and which vanishes every day during the sunset, to reappear in a totally different place on the planet. It presents to the heroes a very unique problem... they are all ready to face the villain, the problem is they simply never know where the heck he will be next morning...
Another good finding are the Slayers. We do not know exactly what are they, but it seems they do not have a mind of their own and they certainly never speak. It looks like they are a kind of biological robots, with a part of Beast's living flesh as their hard drive, heart and brain in the same time. They certainly are dangerous - they climb walls, they walk under water and they shoot some primitive energy weapons (one shot per weapon - and clearly they can not reload out of their fortress) before going to close combat with wide blade short spears. There are also some other nice ideas in this movie, but you desserve to discover them by yourself.
All in all, this is a very honest and very watchable fantasy movie, now a little forgotten but worth (re)discovering. Not exactly a masterpiece but a very nice watch.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I first saw this film as a wee, ankle-biting nipper, hot as it was on the heels of such sci-fi epics as Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica. This tale delved very much more into the territory of sword and sorcery, immersing you in the story of Colwyn as he seeks to save his girl from the "Beast", an interstellar-travelling, Stalinesque villain. The special effects may look dated when compared to the more modern day oeuvre, but you'll marvel at the bad 80s hair, Lysette Anthony's overdub, the early performances of pre-Qui-Gon Liam Nesson and EastEnders' Mark Fowler, and the fact that Bernard Bresslaw can play anything other than Sid James's sidekick. Freddie Jones also turns in a fantastic performance as Colwyn's Obi-Wan Kenobi style advisor, so you'd be mad to miss it! It also takes a much darker tone than many other space-based dramas, so watch out for a few surprises at the end.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Classic 80s fantasy; low-budget, but with a strong cast of then unknowns - notably Robbie Coltrane and Liam Neeson in early screen roles - plus old lags such as the great Bernard Archard; the film is great escapism and simply good fun from the 'they don't make 'em like this anymore' school. Think 'Willow', 'Excalibur', 'The Princess Bride', 'Hawk the Slayer', 'Conan the Barbarian' et al; the true golden age of sword and sorcery fantasy movies.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Krull
Thank you very much for sending krull all the way down to me and I received krull on dvd in good working order.
Published 1 month ago by Les
A great little fantasy film
Krull is a really enjoyable epic with likeable characters, an exciting plot and a fresh Sci-fi meets fantasy take on the classic elements. Greta calue for the price as well.
Published 10 months ago by Mr. D. Bowman
A brilliant classic
I remember Krull from when I was a young lad. It is as fasinating now as it was then all those years ago. Read more
Published 13 months ago by S. williams
krull old classic
good to see an old favourite on dvd.great british cast great story
could of had a more action style ending
could of had a more action style ending
Published 16 months ago by zuk
Charming Fantasy From The Early 1980s. Almost A Spoof.
Krull is not really a knock off sci-fi-fantasy, more a lighthearted fairy tale blending the futuristic and the chivalric, funny, silly, but sometimes quite scary. Read more
Published on 21 Mar 2010 by Philoctetes
Fun but strictly cult viewing
This is glorious romp. In the same spirit as Conan it makes about as much sense, but I loved it when it first appeared, and I find it hasn't lost all its gloss even when compared... Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2010 by stargazer
Krull utter Kr*p
Seriously avoid this film it's utter rubbish!! I wanted to see it in the 80's and somehow missed it until now. Thank God I did!! Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2010 by I Smith
Bought out of curiosity
Star wars with a medieval fantasy twist. A bit dated. If you like it you might like Excalibur.
Published on 14 Jun 2009 by David Baxter
One of the best Fantasy films in the pre CGI world
Krull is a great film from before CGI if it was made today it would be an epic on the scale of Lord of the Rings. Read more
Published on 17 Jun 2008 by Mr. R. S. Hutton Mckee
JAW DROPPING... LY BAD!
I made the mistake of renting this film many years ago. I think I watched the entire film with my chin on the floor! This film is beyond bad! Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2008 by chiggs58th
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