I'd never heard of "Star Knight" till I recently bought it on a cheap 4-film "Sci-Fi Collector's Set" DVD. Since I'm generally not a big fan of movies set in the medieval period, I waited till I'd already watched the other three films on the disc ("T-Force," "Hidden Agenda" and "Lifepod") before finally deciding to give "Star Knight" a spin...and when it was over, I immediately wished I hadn't.
Woof, this movie was bad. Made in Spain in the mid-'80s, it features only two actors that were familiar to me (a young, mulleted Harvey Keitel, as a knight who spends the entire film with a "what the hell am I doing here?" expression on his face, and Klaus Kinski, who apparently would appear in anything for a buck by this point in his career, in what amounts to an extended cameo as the court's alchemist/doctor), along with a bunch of people named "Luis," "Javier," "Jesus," etc. Maybe if you're familiar with Spanish films you'd know some of the other cast members, but they were mysteries to me. I guess it doesn't really matter because their performances are mostly terrible, and so is the movie.
Our story: we're somewhere in Medieval Europe when the peasants begin to report sightings of a "dragon" around a nearby lake. After his daughter the Princess disappears during a swim in said lake, the Count in charge of the region demands that his knights find and destroy the threat. Turns out that the princess has been abducted by the "dragon," which is actually a spaceship from another world, and its pilot, an armored guy who speaks in whistles and clicks, has fallen in love with her. You'd think the sight of a technologically advanced alien being would be terrifying to people in this time period, but fortunately this Alien happens to be one of the least threatening extraterrestrials ever seen on film. (He looks like a less masculine Julian Sands, which is really sayin' something). Within a short time the princess has fallen in love with the alien pilot (who is apparently named "IX," which she pronounces "icks") too, even though he can't hold her or touch her without his space-armor on, because he "doesn't breathe the same air we do." (How the princess can understand this, or anything he says in his alien language, which sounds like early '80s synthesizer riffing, is unexplained.) Keitel's character (ironically named "Klever" because he's not very bright), of course, has his own plans for rescuing the princess in order to get in good with her father, the Count, even though she doesn't really want to be rescued. Eventually there's a showdown at the alien ship and a totally underwhelming final battle between Keitel and Icks, the outcome of which I will not reveal so as not to violate the Spoiler Warning rules. Trust me, by the time it happens you won't care how it turns out anyway.
I'm not sure if "Star Knight" was intended to be a comedy, but it sure turned out that way. There are a few legitimately funny bits like the running gags about the "Green Knight" who spends the entire movie guarding a bridge (an obvious nod to the "Black Knight" of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail") and the villagers' continuous abuse of the town crier, but most of the humor appears unintentional. The scenery, set design (particularly the interior of the alien's ship) and costumes are nice to look at, but the story moves along at an absolute snail's pace and the script and dubbing are howlingly bad. Wait till you hear Keitel try to deliver Middle Ages-styled dialogue in his thick Noo Yawk accent! "Star Knight" is recommended only for obsessed fans of Harvey Keitel, and even for them it'd probably be a tough go. My advice is to avoid this one. "Star Knight" actually made the other three B-grade cheese fests on that "Sci-Fi Collector's Set" DVD look good!!!
Woof, this movie was bad. Made in Spain in the mid-'80s, it features only two actors that were familiar to me (a young, mulleted Harvey Keitel, as a knight who spends the entire film with a "what the hell am I doing here?" expression on his face, and Klaus Kinski, who apparently would appear in anything for a buck by this point in his career, in what amounts to an extended cameo as the court's alchemist/doctor), along with a bunch of people named "Luis," "Javier," "Jesus," etc. Maybe if you're familiar with Spanish films you'd know some of the other cast members, but they were mysteries to me. I guess it doesn't really matter because their performances are mostly terrible, and so is the movie.
Our story: we're somewhere in Medieval Europe when the peasants begin to report sightings of a "dragon" around a nearby lake. After his daughter the Princess disappears during a swim in said lake, the Count in charge of the region demands that his knights find and destroy the threat. Turns out that the princess has been abducted by the "dragon," which is actually a spaceship from another world, and its pilot, an armored guy who speaks in whistles and clicks, has fallen in love with her. You'd think the sight of a technologically advanced alien being would be terrifying to people in this time period, but fortunately this Alien happens to be one of the least threatening extraterrestrials ever seen on film. (He looks like a less masculine Julian Sands, which is really sayin' something). Within a short time the princess has fallen in love with the alien pilot (who is apparently named "IX," which she pronounces "icks") too, even though he can't hold her or touch her without his space-armor on, because he "doesn't breathe the same air we do." (How the princess can understand this, or anything he says in his alien language, which sounds like early '80s synthesizer riffing, is unexplained.) Keitel's character (ironically named "Klever" because he's not very bright), of course, has his own plans for rescuing the princess in order to get in good with her father, the Count, even though she doesn't really want to be rescued. Eventually there's a showdown at the alien ship and a totally underwhelming final battle between Keitel and Icks, the outcome of which I will not reveal so as not to violate the Spoiler Warning rules. Trust me, by the time it happens you won't care how it turns out anyway.
I'm not sure if "Star Knight" was intended to be a comedy, but it sure turned out that way. There are a few legitimately funny bits like the running gags about the "Green Knight" who spends the entire movie guarding a bridge (an obvious nod to the "Black Knight" of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail") and the villagers' continuous abuse of the town crier, but most of the humor appears unintentional. The scenery, set design (particularly the interior of the alien's ship) and costumes are nice to look at, but the story moves along at an absolute snail's pace and the script and dubbing are howlingly bad. Wait till you hear Keitel try to deliver Middle Ages-styled dialogue in his thick Noo Yawk accent! "Star Knight" is recommended only for obsessed fans of Harvey Keitel, and even for them it'd probably be a tough go. My advice is to avoid this one. "Star Knight" actually made the other three B-grade cheese fests on that "Sci-Fi Collector's Set" DVD look good!!!