King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

I believe this movie would have been a master piece of a series due to the huge amount of event packed into 2 hours, but this is no criticism on how great the movie is and how the numbers of this site doesn't do it justice. 90% of the negative reviews comes under the lame excuse of "that's not how king Arthur is supposed to be". If you actually want a movie where you know everything already starting from the story, characters and twists then I'd call you the stupidest ever. Yes this isn't your typical king Arthur movie, and that adds even more to the awesomeness of it.amnt saying the movie is flawless, no movie is, but it was great starting from acting, animation, story, music tracks, everything. Again would have been better off it was a series and I hope there would be a sequel including the knights of the round table, sure Lancelot and some dramatic betrayal or even Arthur's betrayal himself to the kingdom.

Will keep it short and simple. If you don't get/understand the (British) humour (i.e you don't think the jokes are funny), dialogue and fast "flashbacky" editing style presented in Lock Stock and Snatch, you will hate this movie. Easy as that. For us who understand what constitutes a Ritchie movie will be more likely than not, like the movie.

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.

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 :)

'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