Krull

[ewx]

I still remember seeing the trailer for Krull and wanting to see it, and indeed being taken to see it by mhk. I must have been nine or ten at the time. I think I've seen it at least once on TV at some intervening point, but it was definitely the first watching that made the impression. At any rate, when the charming sonicdrift mentioned it as part of a DVD evening I jumped at the chance.

It's a curious and memorable film. Like Star Wars there's a cross between fantasy and SF, but in the opposite direction: space-faring creatures with energy weapons invade a world with mediaeval technology and magic (and ride about on horses instead of tanks and helicopters), rather than princes and wizards translated into SFnal form. It's tempting to imagine that someone read Michael Moorcock's Hawkmoon stories (or Sherri Tepper's True Game, except the timing is wrong). While totting connections (authorial or otherwise) up it's easy to draw certain plot parallels with Flash Gordon; and there's a bridge scene strikingly reminiscent of The Black Hole (I wondered if someone was selling off spare great-big-bridge fx cheap; there's no plot reason for it to be there). Giant spiders in caves are sufficiently widespread (though thankfuly confined to fiction) that it might be unfair to compare that bit to Tolkein at his best.

The plot is simple enough structure, the heart of the film comes from an interesting bunch of characters. The wise old man may start out by reading the plot out to the hero but it's the past of his personal life that turns out to matter. The cowardly comic sidekick discovers meaning and purpose and comes out fighting, matching real and metaphorical transformations. The mysterious doomed companion fights and defeats a - well-hidden! - cowardice, though doomed he remains. From this perspective the hero is a void at the centre of the film: nothing wrong with him but he does nothing a thousand other fantasy film heroes couldn't.

Open questions: are there any fire stallions? What was supposed to happen to Rell? Why do the Slayers use horses to get around when their base teleports daily? (They're rubbish shots, too, but they are the bad guys.)

We also watched Dungeons and Dragons, which was a laugh but not in the same league.

Comments

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Yes, I can spend a happy life inventing rationales :)

Sometimes there's a decent one. An accepted theme is "mysterious shields make nukes innefective" which allows large wars again. Sometimes there isn't. Fairly often in startrek submachine gun would seem the weapon of choice, and not just against the borg :)

In fact, I was thinking of makign a wibble on the subject of science/magic crossovers...