PETER YATES
Bil’s rating (out of 5): B. United Kingdom, 1983. Columbia Pictures Corporation, Barclays Mercantile Industrial Finance. Screenplay by Stanford Sherman. Cinematography by Peter Suschitzky. Produced by Ron Silverman. Music by James Horner. Production Design by Stephen B. Grimes. Costume Design by Anthony Mendleson. Film Editing by Ray Lovejoy.
The planet of Krull is under threat when evil aliens land and commit a mass decimation of its people. Left to defend his world is a King (Ken Marshall) whose beloved princess (Lysette Anthony) is kidnapped by the Beast that leads the evil ones, leaving Marshall to travel across his land with a variety of companions in tow on his quest to save his lady love and set all to right again. A strange combination of sword-and-sorcery fantasy and high-tech laser beam wizardry, this film could have been silly fun considering its appealing production design and very impressive visual effects. Unfortunately, Peter Yates’ direction is heavy-handed to the point of being downright dreary, and the cartoonish characters are all thoroughly idiotic. Marshall is bland in the lead, while Anthony provides little more interest as the breathless heroine (and it doesn’t help that producers overdubbed her British-accented voice with Lindsay Crouse‘s more relatable Yankness).
