I count myself a great fan of classic fantasy movies, usually they´re cheesy b-movie trash and even those I can bring myself to like, Krull is a strugle for me. I dont know if I can truly recommend it, Ill back off a bit to explain myself.
The movie has great production value, especially the sets and some costumes and props look amazing and create a world distinguished from other fantasy worlds, in regards to acting and so forth there are also no comlaints. The huge problem for me is the plot. The movie just asumes you understand things and especially motivations that really arent explained. If your hero just grabs into lava although there is no reason to believe that it wont just burn off his arm, if companions sacrifice themselves although there is no reason for them to do it, if the established coward just follows into the most dangerous place in the land without even having any concern (etc.) your story just doesnt work. You will understand what the movie wants you to think and feel, but only because you´ve seen other movies and know how they are supposed to work. The best examples of how this "because... reasons" storytelling makes the movie fall flat is the motivation of our protagonist and our antagonist. Hero and princess meet and within seconds they are somehow deeply in love. Damn, now I can totally root for that deep 10 second connection to survive the movie. Why not start the movie with them already being a couple? Saves time and makes more sense in the progression of the movie. Our antagonists reason why he specifically captures that princess are never explained. So the two motivations of our hero and our villain are basically non-existant, the result is, that I didnt care who wins, who looses, who dies or lives.
Ive reviewed other cheesy movies that tend to make no sense, those also get around 3-4 stars, the issue I have with Krull is, that unlike those other movies, this movie had a respectable budget but the story is even more frustrating than most b-movie plots. Not the plot as a whole, but those countless tiny stupidities just like the ones I mentioned before. They dont allow me to get emotionally invested into anything thats going on. I could just as well watch the movie without any audio, my mind would probably come up with a story that makes more sense than this.
The movie has great production value, especially the sets and some costumes and props look amazing and create a world distinguished from other fantasy worlds, in regards to acting and so forth there are also no comlaints. The huge problem for me is the plot. The movie just asumes you understand things and especially motivations that really arent explained. If your hero just grabs into lava although there is no reason to believe that it wont just burn off his arm, if companions sacrifice themselves although there is no reason for them to do it, if the established coward just follows into the most dangerous place in the land without even having any concern (etc.) your story just doesnt work. You will understand what the movie wants you to think and feel, but only because you´ve seen other movies and know how they are supposed to work. The best examples of how this "because... reasons" storytelling makes the movie fall flat is the motivation of our protagonist and our antagonist. Hero and princess meet and within seconds they are somehow deeply in love. Damn, now I can totally root for that deep 10 second connection to survive the movie. Why not start the movie with them already being a couple? Saves time and makes more sense in the progression of the movie. Our antagonists reason why he specifically captures that princess are never explained. So the two motivations of our hero and our villain are basically non-existant, the result is, that I didnt care who wins, who looses, who dies or lives.
Ive reviewed other cheesy movies that tend to make no sense, those also get around 3-4 stars, the issue I have with Krull is, that unlike those other movies, this movie had a respectable budget but the story is even more frustrating than most b-movie plots. Not the plot as a whole, but those countless tiny stupidities just like the ones I mentioned before. They dont allow me to get emotionally invested into anything thats going on. I could just as well watch the movie without any audio, my mind would probably come up with a story that makes more sense than this.