Psycho's Movie Reviews #59: KRULL (1983)

Krull is a 1983 science fantasy swashbuckler film directed by Peter Yates and written by Stanford Sherman. It follows a journey of Prince Colwyn and his group of outlaws on the planet Krull to save future queen Princess Lyssa from the Beast and his constantly teleporting Black Fortress.

The film stars an ensemble cast: Kenneth Marshall as Prince Colwyn, Lysette Anthony as Princess Lyssa, Trevor Martin as the voice of the Beast, Freddie Jones as Ynyr, Bernard Bresslaw as Rell the Cyclops, David Battley as Ergo the Magnificent, Tony Church and Bernard Archard as kings and the fathers of Colwyn and Lyssa, Alun Armstrong as the leader of a group of bandits that include early screen roles for actors Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane, John Welsh as The Emerald Seer, Graham McGrath as Titch, and Francesca Annis as The Widow of the Web.

Development on the film began in 1980, when Columbia Pictures president Frank Price gave producer Ron Silverman the idea to produce a fantasy film. Krull underwent a very expensive, harsh, and dangerous production process. The film's huge budget ballooned, mainly due to the designers having to make numerous alterations to the sets corresponding to the heavily evolving script. The movie was shot at several sound stages at Pinewood Studios. Actors such as Marshall, Bresslaw and Jones performed dangerous stunts during filming.

An international co-production of the United Kingdom and the United States, Krull was released in July 1983. The film was a box-office bomb upon release, and critical opinion has been mixed, both upon release and in retrospect. Numerous reviewers have highlighted its visual effects and soundtrack, while several critics have criticized its plot as being derivative and nonsensical. The film has gone on to achieve cult film status.

Plot:

A narrator describes a prophecy regarding "a girl of ancient name that shall become queen", which says "that she shall choose a king, and that together they shall rule their world, and that their son shall rule the galaxy".

The planet Krull is invaded by an entity known as the Beast and his army of Slayers, who travel the galaxy in a mountain-like spaceship called the Black Fortress. In a ceremony involving the newlyweds exchanging a handful of flame, Prince Colwyn and Princess Lyssa plan to marry and form an alliance between their rival kingdoms in the hope that their combined forces can defeat the Beast's army. The Slayers attack before the wedding ceremony is completed, killing the two kings, devastating both armies, and kidnapping the princess.

Prince Colwyn is found and nursed by Ynyr, the Old One. Ynyr tells him the Beast can be defeated with the Glaive, an ancient, magical, five-pointed throwing star.[a] Colwyn retrieves the Glaive from a high mountain cave before setting out to track down the Black Fortress, which teleports to a new location every day at sunrise. As they travel, Colwyn and Ynyr are joined by magician Ergo "the Magnificent" and a band of nine thieves, fighters, bandits, and brawlers. Colwyn offers to clear their criminal records, successfully enlisting Torquil, Kegan, Rhun, Oswyn, Bardolph, Menno, Darro, Nennog, and Quain. The cyclops Rell later joins the group.

Colwyn's group travels to the home of the Emerald Seer, and his apprentice Titch. The Emerald Seer uses his crystal to view where the Fortress will rise, but the Beast's hand magically appears and crushes the crystal. The group travels to a swamp that cannot be penetrated by the Beast's magic, but lose Quain to a slayer attack and Nennog to quicksand. An agent of the Beast, a changeling, kills the Emerald Seer, before he can confirm the next location of the Fortress, and assumes his form, but is himself uncovered and killed by Rell and Colwyn.

While the group rests in a forest, Kegan goes to a nearby village and gets Merith, one of his wives, to bring food. The Beast exerts remote command of Merith's helper, who attempts to seduce Colwyn in order to convince Lyssa that he does not love her, but Colwyn rejects the helper's advances. The helper then tries to kill Colwyn, but fails. Ynyr leaves the resting group to journey to the "Widow of the Web", an enchantress who loved Ynyr long ago and was exiled to the lair of the Crystal Spider for murdering their only child. The Widow reveals where the Black Fortress will be at sunrise. She also gives Ynyr the sand from the enchanted hourglass that kept the Crystal Spider from attacking her and will keep a badly injured Ynyr alive on his journey back to the group. As the Crystal Spider attacks the Widow, Ynyr flees the web and returns to the group to reveal the location of the Black Fortress; as he speaks, he loses the last of the sand and expires.

The group captures and rides magical Fire Mares to reach the Black Fortress before it teleports again. Slayers at the Fortress kill Rhun, while Rell sacrifices himself to hold open the crushing spaceship doors long enough to allow the others to enter. Slayers inside shoot Menno and Darro, and Kegan sacrifices his life to save Torquil as they journey through the Fortress. When Ergo and Titch get separated from the others and are attacked by Slayers, Ergo magically transforms into a tiger to kill the Slayers and save Titch's life.

Colwyn, Torquil, Bardolph, and Oswyn are trapped inside a large dome. Colwyn attempts to open a hole in the dome with the Glaive, while the other three search for any other passageway. The three fall through an opening and are trapped between slowly closing walls studded with huge spikes, which kill Bardolph.

Colwyn breaches the dome and finds Lyssa. He attacks the Beast, injuring it with the Glaive, which becomes embedded in the Beast's body. With nothing to defend themselves against the Beast's counterattack, Lyssa realizes that they must quickly finish the wedding ritual, giving them the linked power to manipulate fire, with which Colwyn slays the Beast. His death frees Torquil and Oswyn from the spike room and they rejoin Colwyn and Lyssa, then Ergo and Titch, as they make their way out of the crumbling Fortress, which is pulled off the planet and into space.

Colwyn and Lyssa, now king and queen of the combined kingdom, 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.

Production

Development:

In 1980, the president of Columbia Pictures Frank Price asked producer Ron Silverman if he and his partner Ted Mann wanted to create a fantasy film.  Silverman agreed to do so and hired Stanford Sherman, whose previously well-known writing credit was Any Which Way You Can (1980), to work on the screenplay. He wrote the "bare bones" of the plot and sent it to Colombia, which they quickly approved. While the essence of the plot was never altered during development and production, the first draft of the film was titled The Dragons of Krull, where the Beast was initially planned to be a dragon; however, the creators changed the Beast to a more "reptilian" creature, as Sherman described him, for the final film, leading to the title change to simply Krull.

The team also brought in Steve Tesich to write a "second version" of the script.  Tesich's version of the screenplay was discarded as dialogue-heavy and lacking in special effects, so the first script was used and re-edited instead.  There was one point in the writing process where it was planned that Lyssa would turn into the antagonist near the end of the story, but this was not part of the final screenplay given that the production team didn't want her to be "less than pure".  Lysette Anthony, the actress who played Lyssa, explained that she "thought that was a little boring". 

After the first draft was finished, the writing and production team first considered Peter Yates to direct the film. Two months after they asked him to join the project and after he finished work on directing Eyewitness (1981), Yates read the screenplay of The Dragons in Krull. He was "intrigued" with what he read and accepted the position of directing the film as a "challenge". He reasoned in a 1983 interview that Krull would be one of those rare films that "can take full advantage of today's special effects techniques" and would differ from his more realistic previous works in that, instead of having to research, he would have to make the movie entirely based on his imagination. The film was in a year of pre-production, which involved Sherman editing the script, Yates creating storyboards, Stephen B. Grimes and Derek Meddings coming up with and drawing set concepts, and Ken Marshall and Anthony being cast as Colwyn and Lyssa respectively.

Despite persistent rumours that the film was meant to tie-in with the game Dungeons & Dragons, Gary Gygax stated, "To the best of my knowledge and belief the producers of Krull never approached TSR for a license to enable their film to use the D&D game IP."

Filming:

Yates described making Krull as "complicated" and "just so enormous".  Special effects artist Brian Johnson stated in a 2009 interview that Yates hated working on the film so much that in the middle of shooting, he took a vacation to the Caribbean which led to the special effects artists taking a three-week break from the project. The production was initially arranged to be shot at several locations because Krull was first planned as a medieval-style motion picture.  However, as it went through multiple drafts, the screenplay transformed into a story that was entirely fantasy, which meant most of the film would be shot on sound stages and only a minority of the sequences would be filmed in actual locations in Italy and England, for only a few weeks.  A total of 23 huge sets of the film were built and shot at more than ten sound stages at Pinewood Studios. Krull was a very expensive film to produce, using a budget of $30 million according to Starlog magazine. Marshall and Meddings reasoned that the huge budget was due to several changes of concepts in the script that led the designers to have to repeatedly alter the designs of the sets.

Pinewood's 007 Stage (pictured in 2006), one of the largest sound stages in the world, was used for the swamp setting of Krull.

Filming began on 25 January 1983. The first sequence shot was the scene where Ynyr (Freddie Jones) climbs a huge spider web in order to confront the Widow of the Web. Jones did not use any safety wires because the wires would have been visible. Stop-motion animator Steve Archer, who previously worked on Clash of the Titans (1981), spent two weeks creating the first model of the spider in the scene which was later changed.

Yates's direction of the action scenes that take place in the beginning of Krull was inspired by swashbuckler films such as Captain Blood (1935). However, he wanted to go through the "complicated" process of figuring out new weapons that gave the scenes a unique swashbuckling feel. Marshall practiced his moves for the sequences a week before filming of them began. However, by the time shooting of these scenes started, the costumes for the Slayers were recently finished; therefore, much of the fight choreography was altered based on the limitations of the costumes at the last minute.

Pinewood's 007 Stage, one of the largest sound stages in the world, was used for the swamp scene of Krull, wherein the Slayers and several changelings encounter Colwyn and his group. Yates described the swamp set as "quite nasty", where "we always had people bumping into things." It was filmed during what Marshall called a "very harsh winter" of 1983, and the set was too big to be entirely heated, leading to the actors feeling cold and "exhausted". The crew members had a hard time seeing through the mist, which led to them accidentally getting into water that consisted of "cork chips". 

Rehearsing the scene where Colwyn and his group are being chased by the Slayers in the Black Fortress involved stuntmen taking the part of Colwyn so that Marshall could conserve energy for final filming. It involved Colwyn and his men encountering a corridor where the floor opened underneath them via two set pieces "the size of a small house" that were powered by liquid and broke apart before quickly slamming back together.

Marshall explained that doing the sequence gave him nightmares after it was completed. When shooting of the scene began, Marshall took more time to say his lines than the production crew expected, leading to him not making it from the tunnel in the first take. Only one crew member noticed this and was able to stop the machines controlling the pieces, but Marshall explained that he "knew that if the machine didn't stop in five seconds, [he] would be dead". Another take of the sequence was shot the next day with Yates instructing that the speed of the machine be slower. However, Marshall insisted on the machine being sped up and in the final take was successful in getting away from the two set pieces alive. Marshall explained, "I had no feeling in my heel for months afterward. It was really hard doing stunts afterwards, too."

Special Effects:

Meddings, who was previously known for his work on Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980), led the special effects department of Krull.  British artist Christopher Tucker was also originally in the project but left due to creative differences. Nick Maley and his crew produced several effects six weeks before filming began. The effects department of Krull went for challenges in making visual effects and designs that were unusual to achieve in the early 1980s.

Meddings created miniatures for the setting of the film's titular planet. The model Meddings constructed for Lyssa's castle was twenty feet high. Shots of it were done in Italy using forced perspective to make it look taller than it really was. The design of the Black Fortress had a height of twelve feet, and an electrical system was used to create the light within it. Because the Black Fortress disintegrates at the end of the film, it was instructed "like a jigsaw puzzle with parts able to be pulled apart on cue."

In Krull, Ergo uses his magic to transform into creatures such as puppies and geese. Meddings used an effects strategy that showed these transformations differently from traditional cross dissolve methods, reasoning that it had "been done to death".  He explained:

• Forty Slayers were made for the film, the first twenty made in only ten days.

• The Fire Mares, steeds that travel so fast they leave a trail of flame and can effectively fly, are played by Clydesdale horses.

• Stuntmen were responsible for being in shots that involved characters jumping off horses. One of them is seen in the film jumping off a cliff but failing to land on a horse.

Soundtrack:

The film score was composed by James Horner and performed by The London Symphony Orchestra and the Ambrosian Singers. It has been commended as part of the composer's best early efforts before his more famous post-1990 era works.

The score features traditional swashbuckling fanfares, an overtly rapturous love theme and other musical elements that were characteristic of fantasy/adventure films of the 1980s, along with incorporating avant-garde techniques with string instruments to represent some of the monstrous creatures in the story. Additionally, to accompany the main antagonists, the Beast and its army of Slayers, Horner utilised Holst-like rhythms and groaning and moaning vocals from the choir. Also of note is a recurring "siren call" performed by female voices that starts and bookends the score, and appears numerous times in the story to represent the legacy of the ancient world of Krull.

Horner's score is reminiscent of earlier works, particularly Battle Beyond the Stars and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Some pieces of the music would later be reused in Aliens and The Rocketeer. Some segments would also be used for the ambiance of the Disneyland Paris attraction Space Mountain: Mission 2 (named Space Mountain: From the Earth to the Moon from 1995 to 2005).

The score has been released numerous times on album by various labels. The first was a 45-minute condensed edition, which was released by Southern Cross Records in 1987, featuring most of the major action cues, three renditions of the love theme, and the music from the end credits; however, music from the main title sequence was omitted. Southern Cross Records later released special editions in 1992 and 1994 (the latter a Gold disc) with a running time of over 78 minutes, expanding on all of the previously released tracks, featuring the main title music and other action cues.

In 1998, SuperTracks released the complete recorded score in a two-CD set with elaborate and attractive packaging and extensive liner notes by David Hirsch; this release, and the 1992 and 1994 releases, have become rare and very expensive collectible items. In 2010, La-La Land Records re-issued the SuperTracks album, with two bonus cues and new liner notes by Jeff Bond in a limited edition of 3,000 copies, which sold out within less than a year. La-La Land reissued an additional 2,000 copies of the album in 2015.

The soundtrack is considered a high point of the film. Ryan Lambie, reviewing for Den of Geek wrote, "The 70s and 80s seemed to be the era of great sci-fi and fantasy themes, and Horner's is high up on the list of the best, providing the film a grandiose sweep to match the broad vistas of Krull's location photography."

Release/Reception/Box Office:

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 32% based on reviews from 22 critics. On Metacritic the film has a score of 45 out of 100, based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

The film made over $16.5 million in the US, failing to bring back its reported budget of $27–30 million.  However, it has gained a cult following over the years since its release. Variety called Krull a "blatantly derivative hodgepodge of Excalibur meets Star Wars". They conclude that the "professionalism of director Peter Yates, the large array of production and technical talents and, particularly, the mainly British actors keep things from becoming genuinely dull or laughable". Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, reviewing Krull on their show At the Movies, gave the film two thumbs down and called it "one of the most boring, nonsensical, illogical fantasies in a long time".

Christopher John reviewed Krull in Ares Magazine #16 and commented that "It is a hot, hollow wind which only reminds us of what a pleasant breeze feels like, and angers us because it isn't one."

Colin Greenland reviewed Krull for Imagine magazine, and stated that "If as much attention had been paid to the plot as to the visuals, instead of all this 'It is the time. I/we must go/stay alone/ together' stuff, perhaps it wouldn't be so hard to care what happens next."

Critic Janet Maslin found Krull to be "a gentle, pensive sci-fi adventure film that winds up a little too moody and melancholy for the Star Wars set", praising director Yates for "giving the film poise and sophistication, as well as a distinctly British air", and also "bring understatement and dimension to the material". Baird Searles described Krull as "an unpretentious movie... with a lot of good things going for it." A retrospective review by AllMovie journalist Jason Buchanan hailed it as "an ambitious sci-fi/fantasy that even in its failures can usually be forgiven for its sheer sense of bravado". Ryan Lambie, reviewing for Den of Geek in 2011, called it "among the most visually creative and downright fun movies of the enchanted 80s" and "a well-made film, and an entire galaxy away from other cheap, quickly made knock-offs that showed up in the wake of Star Wars".

In a 2006 retrospective article, PopMatters critic Bill Gibron, opined that though finding many problems with Krull, it had an "amusement amalgamation" rare for a film released in the early 1980s, where "if you don't like one particular character or circumstance, just wait – something completely different is just around the corner". He summarized that it's "the perfect pick up film – a movie you can catch in snatches while it plays on some pay cable channel. No matter what point you come in on the story, no matter what sort of scene is playing out before you, the lack of continuity and context actually allows you to take pleasure in the individual moment, and if so inclined, to stick around for another exciting sample in just a few minutes." Writing about the film in 2009, Eric D. Snider summarized, "against all odds, Krull crams itself with magic, fantasy, and heroic quests, yet still manages to be boring. This is an impressive feat in and of itself. You'd almost have to be doing it on purpose."

Box Office Total: £16.9 million

My Review:

This truly is a great sci fi movie which to me will never die and where I'm from in my region in the UK they play this movie a few times every now and then on TV which is good because people need to be aware of this movie although people these days like movies with updated effects. I think I can say that this deserves a remake or reboot because at the time it was released not a lot of people went to see it because it was released at the wrong period of time when star wars return of the Jedi came out as it distracted dozens of people which led them not to see Krull...and that's all I heard. If they attempt to make a remake or reboot they would have to get the release date right next time which would lead people to see it. It would be great if they use the same glaive or very much similar to the original and add in similar music from the original which really does give me the chills and also references to the original and that would be respectful to the original because this would show people what awesome things they missed back then.

A much underrated gem this terrific family's fantasy picture boasts several fantastic performances from it then unknown cast, several of whom used it as a springboard to go on to become major Hollywood and TV stars later in their careers. Excellent special effects for the time in hindsight and with beautiful art direction, this film truly deserves to be dug out and dusted off and shown the respect it deserves. Admittedly the damsel in distress running away endlessly from the evil baddie is a bit tiring but the battle sequences are genuinely rousing and brilliantly directed. A true British classic!

Overall, I'd say check this movie out if you're into Sci-fi/Fantasy/Older films in general - 7/10.