A group of friends and I recently started getting together infrequently (some of us have kids) to watch random movies. When I told one of the guys I had never seen or heard of Krull, he said we had to watch it. We did just that a couple of days later, and let me tell you, this forgotten ‘80s epic was legitimately one of the best fantasy movies I’ve seen in a very long.
It has action, fantasy, romance, a nonsensical, yet badass bladed weapon called the Glaive, and even early performances from Liam Neeson and the late Robbie Coltrane. However, there’s one thing I couldn’t keep my eye off the whole movie, and that is that freaking cyclops that helps the heroes on their journey to save a princess from a diabolical creature. Yeah, I have to talk this out.
Krull Is A Fantastic Movie, And I’m Shocked I Went So Long Without Seeing It
I don’t know how I spent my 37 years on this planet having not seen or even heard about Krull, because this is something that’s right up my alley. I wouldn’t call it the best ‘80s movie or anything like that, but this is a 1983 box office bomb that’s actually great. From the beginning, well after the random space scene that felt like a last-minute addition to compete with Return of the Jedi, I was hooked and couldn’t wait to see where Prince Colwyn (Ken Marshall) and his merry band of raiders planned on saving his bride and the world from a space-traveling monster known as the Beast.
But That Cyclops Seriously Creeped Me Out
When Rell the Cyclops (Bernard Bresslaw) first showed up in Krull, my friends and I legitimately yelped as the mythical creature just stood there and blinked (seriously, the way the animatronics used to pull this off is some uncanny valley stuff). Honestly, I feel like Ergo (David Battley), the wise-cracking shapeshifter best summed up our reaction whenever he would run away from this largely silent giant throughout the early goings of the movie.
You know how some old movies look like they should have never been restored in HD or 4K and look better on old VHS tapes playing on a CRT TV? This is one of those examples, and mostly due to how freaky this Cyclops looks in such high fidelity.
Rell Is One Of The Movie’s Best Characters, But I Couldn’t Stop Staring At… You Know
Don’t get me wrong, Rell is one of the best characters in Krull, and he’s at the center of one of the movie’s most heartbreaking deaths (it’s comparable to the Game of Thrones’ “Hold the Door” scene). Colwyn and the rest of the heroes would have been dead very early on if it weren’t for this noble and fearless cyclops at their side.
However, I just couldn’t stop staring at… you know… that freakishly large eye with the animatronic eyelid that moved a little too slow. I tried not to focus on Rell’s defining feature, but it was like a high-fantasy car crash that I just had to watch. It was just there staring into my soul whenever he was on screen.
If you want to watch Krull for the first time in years or for the first time in general, it’s currently one of the best free movies streaming right now on Tubi.
