"Star Knight", made in the mid 80's in Spain as "El Caballero del Dragón", is predictable, pretentious, and ponderous, while simultaneously being ridiculous and silly. Starring Harvey Keitel and Klaus Kinski among a cast of thousands of other people you've never heard of, the film is about a man in a space suit who comes to earth in a giant UFO and falls in love with a medieval princess, creating an awkward love triangle. This, of course, sets up the film to have the humans of old think the UFO is a dragon, and through much telepathic conversation (and contrived exposition) leads to what may be the most ridiculous duel in screen history. The special effects are laughable (I especially like the "glowing head" effect), although the costumes are interesting.
The film has many lessons to teach: don't swim toward a giant whirlpool in a lake, for instance; stuff you would have never known on your own. The dialogue is terrible and very stilted ("Don't you know there's a dragon around here that devours goats, women, and children?") and the direction is unskilled. The emphasis afforded non-pertinent things is very distracting: why does the movie open with Matilda the flying goat (really)? Why the prolonged hysterical overreaction to a black cat? I know they were alleged to bring bad luck, but this cat gets a reception that is truly over the top.
The film is terribly unfocused, and the pace is plodding. The director decides the film should be a light comedy for brief scenes on several occasions, squandering whatever suspense it was able to muster. The most outlandish comedic gems are courtesy of The Green Knight, a.k.a. the worst knight ever in history: he is gross buffoonery personified. This confusing melding (it's kind of like "Alien" meets "Monty Python and the Holy Grail") of fantasy adventure epic, love story, and farce actually made me consider giving the film two stars for camp value, that is until I saw the end of the film. Not only does the conclusion of the film predictably prove that love overcomes all (even a need for a non-oxygen based atmosphere), but that two idiots and mid-1980's animation do not mix in outer space.
"Star Knight" has something to make anyone groan, and I can't recommend it, unless you have a very strong stomach for quirky camp films.
