ARTS
S Page 10 Tuesday, August 2, 1983 The Michigan Daily
'Krull': no more than
typical fantasy
By Joshua Bilmes
I F THE MUSIC for Krull had been
composed by Olivia Newton-John,
the title song would have been "Let's
Get Typical" for Krull is the epitome of
the fantasy film genre, as typical a film
as one can find. And this typicality is
the cause of most of the film's suc-
cesses and failures - which in many
cases are one and the same, depending
on the individual. Someone looking for
nothing more than cliches will be
pleased. Someone, such as myself, who
finds all the fantasy cliches to be
Krull
Starring Ken Marshall, Lysette An-
thony, Freddie Jones, and Francesca
Annis
Directed by Peter Yates
Now playing at The Movies at Briar-
wood
hilariously dull when used to such ex-
cess will be displeased.
In keeping with typical fantasies,
Krull is a quest. And like many, it is set
on a distinctly medieval planet ( the
name of this one is Krull). There is a
Prince, named Colwyn. There is a
Princess named Lyssa. There is to be a
wedding twixt the two to cement an
alliance their families are forming to
combat the Slayers. The Slayers are
evil servants of the Beast, who wishes
to marry the Princess and enslave the
planet for his Black Fortress, which
changes locations at every sunrise,
never appearing in the same place
twice.
The Slayers interrupt the wedding,
kill, pillage, and take the Princess.
Colwyn sets off to find her. Apparently,
Stanford Sherman's screenplay is not
very big on originality.
. During his search, Colwyn is joined
by Ynyr, the old guy who knows it all, a
band of robbers, a magician, a cyclops,
and a young sidekick. They go from
place to place picking up the Weapon,
(called a Glaive), and trying to find out
the location of the Black Fortress. But
the Slayers keep stopping them. And
the Old Guy keeps saying that there
might be another way (typically op-
timistic).
So, Colwyn's band visits the seer.
They head to the Emerald Temple. The
Old Guy visits his childhood flame, the
Widow of the Web, who finally tells
them where to find the Black Fortress.
All the while there are battles with the
agents of the Beast, and the film is
therefore interspersed with moving
death scenes that at times seem funny.
"I think I'm dying." "No." "Yes. It is
my time." They are never all that
moving, for characterization is not a
strongpoint of the film.
Finally, they reach the Black For-
tress. There is a dramatic confron-
tation between good and evil as exem-
plified by Colwyn and the Beast. And
while I hate to give away the ending, I
think it is necessary to impress upon
you the film's creativity. The love of
Colwyn and Lyssa defeats the Beast.
The film's technical aspects are very
good, but they need to be great to make
up for the film's lack of originality. The
cast, as directed by Peter Yates of
Breaking Away, does a good job. Ken
Marshall and Lysette Anthony as the
the Prince and Princess seem like
Ken Marshall plays a swashbuckling warrior prince in "Krull," the latest in
myth and magic movies.
young lovers. The Old Guy seems
properly all-knowing. But at heart, the
roles are huge cliches, and to a great
extent, the performances are too.
But these well-acted cliches have
some very good scenery to compete
with, for the film's visual look is its best
quality. The photography, by Peter
Suschitzky, looks nice from forest to
desert to castle to fortress. The visual
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effects, supervised by Derek Meddings,
are very good also. And everything has
this beauty that really does seem to be
that of another world.The only visual
flaw is the Gyclops' makeup, and that is
a minor one indeed.
However, the biggest flaw in the film,
besides the script, is the music. It is
provided by James Horner, who
provided the music for Star Trek II.
And so it is that the music in this film
sounds as if the Enterprise is right
around the bend, flying majestically
out of drydock. But the Enterprise
never shows up, and watching it come
out of drydock for two hours would be
awfully dull, just like the music. But it
is fitting that the music should be an
overdose of deja vu. It fits the movie
perfectly. If an overdose of genre fan-
tasy is something you can do without,
then do without Krull. But if genre fan-
tasy is just what you want, then Krull is
too, for it will have you leaving the
theater joyously humming the catchy
tune of "Let's Get Typical."
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(I'Xil ilsslfiods
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and staff
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668-9329
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