Kull the Conqueror (1997)

Director:

John Nicolella

Writers (WGA):

Robert E. Howard (worlds and characters)
Charles Edward Pogue (screenplay)

Release Date:

29 August 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Action | Adventure

Tagline:

Kull reigns. Kull rules. Kull rocks.

Plot:

A barbarian named Kull unexpectedly becomes a king after an old king (whom Kull has just killed in a battle) gives his crown to him...

Plot Keywords:

Robert E. Howard | Planetary Alignment | Sword And Sorcery | Based On Pulp Magazine | Sword

Cast

Kevin Sorbo	...	Kull
Tia Carrere	...	Akivasha
Thomas Ian Griffith	...	General Taligaro
Litefoot	...	Ascalante
Roy Brocksmith	...	Tu
Harvey Fierstein	...	Juba
Karina Lombard	...	Zareta
Edward Tudor-Pole	...	Enaros
Douglas Henshall	...	Ducalon
Joe Shaw	...	Dalgar
Sven-Ole Thorsen	...	King Borna (as Sven Ole Thorsen)
Terry O'Neill	...	Ship Captain
Pat Roach	...	Zulcki
John Hallam	...	Mandara
Peter Petruna	...	Slave

Also Known As:

Conan the Conqueror (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence and sensuality.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #35363) | Denmark:15 | UK:12 (video rating, cut) | Australia:M | Brazil:Livre | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-12 (video premiere) | France:U | Germany:16 | Netherlands:16 (video premiere) | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | Singapore:PG | UK:12

Filming Locations:

Bratislava, Slovakia

Company:

Korsala Productions

Trivia:

The name of Akivasha comes from a minor character from the novel "The Hour of the Dragon" by Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan.

Goofs:

Continuity: The amount (and position) of white in Zareta's hair changes several times.

Quotes:

Ascalante: I cannot take a man's life.
Kull: Now you're telling me?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Benchwarmers (2006)

More TV's Hercules than a cinematic swords & sorcery epic but still entertaining at the former's level

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!