King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Let's be clear: this contains very few aspects of the actual Arthur legend. They probably should have just gone for a wacky original medieval fantasy film instead. That being said, I didn't expect Ritchie's style to work this well here. And he hasn't been this crazy since Snatch. Some montages are so breathless, fast and innovative as far as editing and soundtrack go, it's a pleasure. Sure, the plot follows the genre conventions more or less, and the finale is a bit heavy on CGI. On the other hand the assassination attempt sequence is fantastic and the portrayal of magic pretty cool. Hell, I had fun with this.

*Minor Spoilers Ahead* The movie beings at the start of a big battle. The Mage army is smashing through King Uther's defences. Uther (Eric Bana) decides to take the battle into his own hands, despite his brother Vortigern's (Jude Law) reservations. Uther jumps onto the leading war elephant and slays the Mage king, ending the battle. After the battle, there are conflicting arguments on how to deal with the fallout. Previously the feuding kingdoms lived in harmony so some of Uther's generals: Bedivere (Djimon Hounsou) and Bill (Aidan Gillen) want to seek peace while Vortigern proposes hunting down the Mages and killing them. Uther agrees that a temporary peace should be reached and while some leave the meeting happy, others are angry and will not back down. Uther senses this and packs up his wife and his son Arthur (later played by Charlie Hunnam) to leave the castle at night.

If you've looked at the reviews for this movie, they're really scathing. I would never argue that this movie is a complete success but critics have been too quick to slam this movie. There's some really good stuff in here. I tend to like most of Guy Ritchie's movies and one of the biggest reasons is that his characters have tons of camaraderie. This is often helped by some stellar dialogue too. They make you laugh but it also helps you believe in the relationships between the characters. That was the strongest part of King Arthur for me. My favourite scenes weren't the big action set pieces, they were the parts where Arthur and his crew were taking care of business in Londinium or sabotaging the villain's operation. Other than the occasional slip up with modern day phrasing (I don't think anyone said razzle-dazzle in the medieval ages?) it reminded me of Jason Statham's dialogue in Snatch. It was generally solid and I laughed throughout the movie.

Guy Ritchie has been at this long enough that he's developed his own way doing action. In some of his projects it works great (Sherlock Holmes has some really great action scenes) and in other projects it doesn't. I thought the actions scenes in Legend of the Sword were good in some areas and they weren't so great in others. I saw this with a friend and she said the action reminded her of video games. She's not wrong. When Arthur uses Excalibur, its like unlocking a special ability in a video game. The CGI is decent (it better be with a $175 million budget) but the movie also can't seem to decide how far into fantasy it wants to go. So the action is a mixed bag, the ending goes too crazy but it didn't affect the overall grade too much.

The acting is also pretty mixed. I actually really liked Charlie Hunnam as Arthur. He's had a tough road transitioning to movies but he had the charisma and the right physicality to pull this role off. I also really liked some of the actors in supporting parts: Aiden Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, Neil Maskell and Kingsley Ben-Adir are all respectively funny and they were believable as a crew. Getting into some of the performances I didn't like as much, I don't want to blame Jude Law because he was trying but Vortigern was a lacklustre character for me. I also thought Astrid Bergès-Frisbey was weak. Her character seemed like something that could have been cut out and she was really wooden as The Mage.

This movie reminds me of 2 other Warner Bros. releases from last year that had a mixed measure of success; The Legend of Tarzan and Suicide Squad. Both of those movie were completely trashed by critics and were flawed products. But they also had some really cool parts and strong aspects that people just threw aside when judging the movie. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword falls into that category for me. The action is mixed, the acting is mixed and the story takes some pretty big liberties from the King Arthur legend and the historical period. But you have some great dialogue, interesting characters, a decent leading performance and some big action set pieces that are impressive. This wasn't the train wreck that I expected and if you're interested in seeing this, don't be afraid to give it a shot. I would be closer to a 6.5/10 but I'll round up to a 7/10.

This Movie was so much better than everybody told me. The fight scenes, the shots and the music was gorgeous. I really don't now why this movie receives that much hate. For me it was just Guy Ritchie at his best. Give this movie a try, its worth it! No joke, it was the best movie in this year, just stunning and epic. I loved it and i think that a lot of people will love this movie too! 7/10.

'King Arthur: Legend of the Sword' left me somewhat on the fence. It is much better than some critics have said, being nowhere near among the worst films seen so far this year, but it to me doesn't quite warrant the vehement defence it's garnered too.

Guy Ritchie's best? Not by a long shot. His worst? Nowhere near, nothing is worse than 'Swept Away'. 'King Arthur: Legend of the Sword' could have been much better but it's hardly a film with no redeeming qualities and there are far worse films around. Then again this is coming from somebody who tries to observe and talk about redeeming qualities even in really bad films (for instance 1 and 2 out of 10 ratings are pretty rare, and am generally giving out 10/10s a little less).

There are strengths with 'King Arthur: Legend of the Sword'. The costumes, scenery and production design are pretty audacious while never having a fake or too clean look, one does get sucked into the atmosphere and setting of the film and can feel the authenticity. The rousing, rich in energy and thrilling music score is a strong contender for the film's best asset.

Some nice humorous lines, some exciting and innovatively choreographed action and a mix of coarse realism and a mythic touch are further things to like. The story is never dull, actually mostly having a vibrant energy, as such and is just about easy to follow if not perfect in execution, do admire it though for putting a new spin on a timeless but old story sometimes in need of more freshness when adapted.

Charlie Hunnam has an easy-going and steely charisma in the title role, and he is perfectly matched by dignified Dijimon Hounsou and particularly a sinister but surprisingly rootable Jude Law as the villain of the piece.

However, Ritchie's direction has a tendency to be chaotic and overdone, while the shaky camera work is some of the most excessive of any film to use it seen recently and the editing has an awkward jerkiness that can feel nauseating. Special effects are a mixed bag, some are good, others are very artificial looking and reminiscent of a low-budget video game.

While there are good performances here, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey is pretty wasted in an underwritten role and David Beckham is dreadfully out of place with his amateurish acting standing out like a sore thumb. Generally the characters could have been better written, some needed more development and others needed their motivations expanded upon and made much clearer (particularly the titular character). The most interesting in fact is Vortigen.

Parts of the story do work well, but there are other times where the pacing could have slowed down and that there could have been less going on, some of it felt too frenetic and bloated.

In conclusion, better than expected but less than legendary. 6/10 Bethany Cox

This is Guy Ritchie all day long. Guy doesn't do subtle. What he does do, is more often or not, deliver a visually entertaining feast for the eyes sprinkled with action and humour.

Charlie Hunnam was an interesting choice for Arthur. I became a fan of his during Sons of Anarchy but some of his other work has been a little hit and miss. Initially I wasn't enjoying him but as the film moved forward I took to his portrayal of the character.

For me Excalibur is the bench mark telling of this tale in film, David Gemmel has a series of novels that offer a great version of the story as well. The point being is that this movie has a lot to compete with and to be fair it does a pretty good job, its lots of fun :)