Bloodtype Online

    The planet Krull is attacked by a group of aliens called the Slayers.  The kings of two warring nations decide that only by combining their forces do they have any chance against the invaders.  To that end they decided that their children Prince Colwyn and Princess Lyssa must marry so that their kingdoms will be one.  Unfortunately the Slayers crash the wedding, kidnap the princess, and kill all the guests.  Prince Colwyn survives the attack and luckily enough for him is found by a mysterious old man who leads the prince on a journey to retrieve a magical Glaive.  With this weapon he believes that the prince can defeat the Slayers and their mysterious leader the Beast.  Along their journey they collect an odd assortment of allies, including a bungling wizard, a band of criminals, a seer and his young apprentice, and a Cyclops.  Eventually their journey takes them to the home of the slayers the Black Fortress where Colwyn faces the Beast to determine the fate of the planet Krull.   

    There were a lot of sword and sorcery movies that came out after the enormous success of Conan the Barbarian and most of them were really awful.  Krull is the exception to this as it is a pretty damn good movie.  The story follows the formula of a young hero being forced to rescue his love interest from the forces of evil with an odd assortment of companions.  The script is paced really well and doesn’t have any slow spots, which is pretty damn amazing considering the movie is nearly 2 hours long.  The cast does an excellent job with a script that is heavy on action and light on character development.  Speaking of the cast look for early appearances of both Liam Neeson (Batman Returns, Phantom Menace) and Robbie Coltrane (Harry Potter films).  The special effects are cheesy throughout the movie with the giant spider and the Beast being especially cringe worthy.  I did appreciate the obvious care and effort that was put into the costumes and weapons, as they look great.  Speaking of the weapons the actual fight scenes in the movie are pretty well choreographed and look pretty sweet.  The worst thing that a sword and sorcery movie can do is have awkward fight scenes.  To me lousy swordplay equals a crappy movie that is painful to watch.   

    Krull is without a doubt a cheesy movie with some really bad effects.  It is also an entertaining and fun movie to watch.  In the end it isn’t a bad way to spend a couple of hours.  Check it out I think you will enjoy it. 

Rating - ***

-John "El Juan" Shatzer