***“By this Axe I Rule!”***

An Atlantean barbarian (Kevin Sorbo) takes the throne of Valusia when he defeats King Borna (Sven-Ole Thorsen) and so General Taligaro (Thomas Ian Griffith) & assorted “noble-blooded” men conspire to overthrow Kull by resurrecting the wicked Acheron sorceress Akivasha (Tia Carrere). Karina Lombard plays Kull’s love interest, Zareta, while Litefoot is on hand as the priest Ascalante.

Released in 1997, thirteen years after the last Conan movie, “Kull the Conqueror” was intended to be the third Conan film, but Schwarzenegger declined so they morphed it into a Kull movie. For those not in the know, Kull was author Robert E. Howard’s other barbarian hero, who wasn’t as popular as Conan. Kull, incidentally, existed thousands of years before Conan’s Hyborian Age. The switch didn’t really matter because the script was loosely based on Howard’s Conan story "The Phoenix on the Sword," which was a rewrite of the Kull yarn “By this Axe I Rule.”

Sorbo was in his prime here and definitely looks like Kull from the comics, except he has his characteristic geniality whereas Kull was more grim and brooding in Howard’s tales. Nevertheless, Sorbo is well cast and one of the film’s highlights.

The score by Joel Goldsmith is quite good, except for a couple of semi-cheesy metal riffs, like the eye-rolling riff near the beginning and another one much later during the fight at the ice cave, which isn’t as bad. At least half of the score lacks any metal guitar whatsoever and most of the pieces that do include it are very good; there’s just a couple of dubious riffs, which turned me off the first time I watched the movie. These wannabe metal rhythms were rather lame in 1997, let alone today.

Another flaw is that the opening of the movie is weak with Kull’s dealings with the Dragon Legion and his fiery sword fight with Taligaro. If you’re patient, however, the story takes a compelling turn with the palace confrontation. The production is acceptable, but noticeably inferior to “Conan the Destroyer” (1984). I’d say it’s on par with “The Sword and the Sorcerer” (1982), but with a superior story and more interesting characters (once you get past the lousy opening). I should add that Tia looks great as a green-eyed redhead and the fiery demon F/X at the close are quite effective.

IF you can handle its obvious shortcomings, “Kull the Conqueror” is an entertaining S&S flick that should be enjoyed by fans of Conan, Sinbad and the like. If you watched it before and didn’t like it, give it a second chance. I’m glad I did. It’s flawed, but there’s too much to appreciate to give it a negative rating.

The film runs 1 hour, 35 minutes and was shot in Slovakia (Bratislava & Cerveny Kamen) and Croatia (Kornati National Park & Murter Island).

GRADE: B-/C+