Kull the Conqueror (1997)

Let me get one thing straight. Kull never is, never was, and never will be a relation of Conan's. He "existed" way before Conan. The Cimmerean's (Conan was Cimmerean) were descendants of the Atlanteans, but there does not appear to be a direct link between Kull and Conan.*phew* Glad to get that out of the way! So much for anyone who knows anything...*raises eyebrow*

Anyway, Sorba is pretty much what I imagined Kull to be; not as muscled as Conan, much more wiry, and a little less "Me hit thing hard with big sword" (OK, Conan not think but...you get the general idea...). The film itself is done in that Hercules style, typical of American S&S at the moment, but it doesn't lose the idea of the originals. OK not as much sex involved, and certainly a lot less violence and misogyny (to a certain extent), but it stil makes for a great brainless piece of fun, much like Conan The Barbarian (I try and forget Destroyer and Red Sonja...definitely not up to scratch).

The soundtrack wasn't as inspired as the Conan films (I mean metal in the Hyborian age? Please?!), and kinda took away from the flick in a way. Then again, it did come across as an extended Xena program...no bad thing.

I suppose it depends on what you want out of the film. If you want to relive the early 80's S&S stuff...maybe this isn't for you. If you just want some brainless fun...sweet. Give it a try. For those, wanting a bit more, keep your eye out. Arnie has confirmed he has signed on for King Conan (or Conan 3 effectively)...could be a good return to form here!

7 out of 10

Fmovies: I saw the movie on television yesterday evening. When I had looked into the tv magazine I saw that the movie is rather new (1997), but I had never heard of it, which means nothing good. Then I saw that Kevin Sorbo starred in it. I don't have a problem with him, but he's absolutely fixed to that "Hercules"-role, so I knew exactly what to expect. But it wasn't THAT bad. The plot was mediocre, but not ridiculous. The special effects weren't too good, but some looked nice. The scenery looked extremely fake from time to time, but there also were some nice backgrounds and such. It's not really a bad movie, I was not bored when I watched it. If you are a fan of such medieval settings and lower your expectations a bit it might be worth a watch.

5/10

I like Kevin Sorbo, so I watched the film. It wasn't mentally tasking and it never set out to be. The movie was designed to be campy and it said so. You heard the rock music in the background during the trailer, so why are people so disappointed with it? I still enjoyed it for its dry wit and simplicity. It was a nice flashback to those old Conan movies. I've heard that Kull is Conan's father, and I don't know much about this character from the Conan films, but I dug him. I found him charming. The Conan movies wasn't much in the way of smart either, but people still enjoy it. I liked the combination of modern themes and music with the extremely old school nature of the film. It was like a land before time or something. Watch it if you just wanna watch something and don't expect much.

Kull the Conqueror fmovies. Kevin Sorbo goes from TV's legendary Hércules to Sword-witchery hero Kull the conqueror , a warrior who becomes king of a mythic land , Valusia . Overthrown by a corrupt nobility (Douglas Henshall , Thomas Ian Griffith) Kull starts a perilous journey to a Island of Ice to find God Balka and the one weapon that will destroy the she-demon , an evil sorceress Akiyasha (Tia Carrere) . Meanwhile , Kull falls for a slave (Karina Lombard) of the former harem of a nasty King (Sven-Ole Thorsen) .

Stars the hunk Kevin Sorbo who battles warlords in animal skins , wizards, sorceress and fantastic gods in this dumb-but -fun Sword and Witchery film . Featuring brutallity , magnificent production values by prestigious designer Benjamin Fernández , colorful cinematography and rousing musical score by Joel Goldsmith . Acceptable film , although the PG-13 rating keeps some the mayhem and violent fights less bloody than might be expected for this popular sub-genre : ¨Sword and Witchery¨ that had splendor in the 80s .¨Kull the Conqueror" is based on the 30s character created by pulp writer Robert E Howard who also originated Conan the Barbarian . A fine Sword and necromancy movie in the wake of Conan The Barbarian by John Milius and Conan the Destroyer by Richard Fleischer produced by De Laurentiis . In fact , it was originally going to be the 3rd Conan film "Conan The Conqueror" also financed by Raffaela De Laurentiis and would be an adaptation of the novel by Robert E. Howard. Which a 45 year old Conan, now King of Aquilonia, learns of a group of conspirator's plot to depose of him, by resurrecting the ancient sorcerer from the pre-Hyborian empire of Acheron. Camp fun , good humor and somewhat silly finale with embarrassing FX with a horrible , ugly and badly-made monster . Passable acting by body-builder Kevin Sorbo in heroic Hercules style , he maintains sympathy admirable sense of humor throughout . He is well accompanied by a good support cast , such as Tia Carrere , Douglas Henshall , Thomas Ian Griffith , Harvey Fernstein , Sven Ole Thorsen , Edward Tudor , Litefoot , among others .

Thrilling and exciting soundtrack by Joel Goldsmith , son of the notorious composer Jerry Goldsmith ; however , containing some inappropriated electronic sounds . Evocative and glimmering photography by Rodney Charters . This action-fantasy was professionally directed by John Niconella (1942-98) . He was a writer , director and especially producer . He directed a few films such as Sunset Heat , Runaway father and Finish line . And directed various TV episodes as Crime Story , Leg work , The watcher , Dark Justice , The Heights , Miami Vice and several others until his early deat at 53 . rating : 5.5/10 , decent action fantasy movie though it has some flaws and gaps .

On the scale of sword and sorcery flicks, this ranks below 'Conan The Barbarian', above the dreary 'Red Sonja', about on par with 'Conan The Destroyer'; which is to say that it's an energetic fantasy film that doesn't take itself seriously and can be a lot of fun if you let it be.

Kull of Atlantis seeks to join the army of Velusia, but instead, through an unexpected turn of events, he finds himself proclaimed king of the empire instead. Holding onto his new throne will be much harder than taking it, as the blood heirs to the empire make a deal with a wizard to revive a 3000 year-old demon who seeks to kill King Kull and claim the empire for herself.

'Kull the Conqueror' originally started out as 'Conan the Conqueror', but after Arnold refused to reprise the role, the script was changed to accommodate Howard's other barbarian hero, Kull. As such, much of the story is actually taken from the Conan stories ('The Hour of the Dragon' in particular). Interestingly, the first Conan movie took most of it's story material from the Kull tales. A little bit of irony for you.

As for the film itself, it does enough things right to entertain; Sorbo fits Kull role perfectly (actually truer to the source character than Arnold ever was), Griffith is an effectively grim villain and Tia Carrere hams it up nicely as the evil Akiavasia. The locations and sets have a wonderfully fantasy feel to them and the assorted fight scenes are well choreographed and fast paced. Given their age, the FX and make are good without ever looking terribly real. One thing I found very enjoyable in the film was the liberal dose of humor; not lame one-liners or goofy antics, but some solid humor that compliments the scenes rather than ruining them.

The biggest problem the movie has is the damn PG-13 rating; it keeps the movie from really delving into adult fantasy the way you want it too. Both 'Red Sonja' and 'Conan the Destroyer' suffered the same problem. Another issue is the generic butt-rock music that accompanies the fight scenes; the music for the rest of the film is epic and fits the period nature of the film, but the lame guitar riffs that get churned out during every fight is just annoying. Also, many of the supporting actors just aren't any damn good at acting and tend to injure many of the scenes. Lastly, the script is a little lean for an epic adventure film, clocking in at just 90 minutes, almost no time is spent getting to know the characters any better than is necessary to drive the plot.

All told, this is a fun, fast, fantasy film meant to be enjoyed rather than analyzed. It makes a decent entry in the Howard film canon (the best way to watch it is part 4 of a Howard marathon; Conan 1 & 2, Red Sonja, Kull). The film made no money in theaters, which is too bad, as we aren't likely to see any more of these any time soon.

Energetic, humorous, and full of action (though not without some issues), a solid sword and sorcery flick.

7/10

Former slave and pirate, Kull is now a great warrior but can't seem to fit in with the army because he is one of the few who does not have noble blood. When he stands up to the King for slaying his relatives, Kull is forced to fight and kill him and, as a result, the King sees the light and passes the crown to Kull seconds before dying. The Princes don't like it and the court officials are pretty unimpressed but the law is the law and whatcha gonna do? When he starts to free slaves, treat lesser as equals and generally be a nice king, the Princes plot his removal but when assassins fail they go to a wizard to breathe life into a demon in a ginger wig in the form of a gorgeous woman.

I must admit that, when I recorded this I thought that it was Krull from 1983 simply because I had misread the television guide. Never having bothered with Xena, Hercules or any of these modern swords and sorcery television series and movies that tend to clutter some cable stations in the UK because they all seemed of very low quality to me, but I still decided to watch this anyway. Perhaps it is because the lack of development and character isn't a major problem for me over 90 minutes whereas it is over a 22 week long series but I actually did enjoy this even if it just plays like an extended version of one of these shows – all rock music and modern humour.

The plot is very simple but is enough to allow for the basic fighting and swaggering that the audience would demand. It isn't that well written of course and simply has lots of mystical nonsense in the place of narrative while the characters could only be more one-dimensional if they had been painted onto a wall. Likewise the cast don't do a great deal but at least they seem to be having fun and at least not take it too seriously. Although I'm not about to claim he is anything other than a muscle-bound cable television actor, I was quite won over by Sorbo's charisma and good humour – he makes a good lead for stuff at this sort of level. Despite being stuck in a silly red wig that does nothing for her looks, Carrere enjoys overacting in a vampy role which is good even if she has little screen time. Lombard has a plainer, less fun role but I did enjoy her and she worked well with Sorbo. The princes are quite fun, in particular Griffith and, as always, Fierstein camps in up in the way only he can. None of them are great but at least they make the film seem like a bit more fun.

Overall this is not the film to come to if you don't like the genre or have standards higher that daytime television (Hercules is now a kids TV filler on channel 5 here) but if you like that sort of thing then this does just about enough to be an entertaining little bit of modern sword and sorcery in the mould of, well, everything else Sorbo has been in!