Kull the Conqueror (DVD, 1998)

Kull the Conqueror was a 1997 film based on the Robert E. Howard character 'Kull'. The film starred Kevin Sorbo, best known for his Hercules TV role, where Xena also started!

The film was a movie adaptation of the Conan novel 'Conan the Conqueror', with the title role name changed in the face of Arnold Schwarzenegger's refusal to reprise his role as Conan,and then Kevin Sorbo not wanting to reprise a character already played by another actor.

The film began with what turned out to be a test of skill and ability. Kull failed this admission test on the grounds that he was not of noble blood. Kull then rode to the city that the King and his guards were from and he found the King had gone mad, killing his heirs. The leader of the guard complained, but the mad King struck him also, before being killed by Kull.

Kull was then given the crown by the dying King, knowing that many would now seek to kill Kull for it, notably the leader of the King's guard, and his cousin, both of whom were of royal blood.

The two conspired to bring an evil witch queen back to life. That witch queen, named Akivasha, revived.... then entranced Kull, married him and then promptly poisoned Kull. All believed that Kull was dead, but Kull reawakened to find out the truth of Akivasha. He freed himself from confinement and struggledto regain his throne and vanquish the evil witch.

This movie was somewhat convulted, and did not equal the quality of the comic books from the 1970's that Marvel Comics produced. I was disappointed in this movie, which just did not translate well to the big screen. Contrary to the movie poster for this movie, Kull did Not 'Rock' for me!

Michael