King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Astrid Berges-Frisbey, Djimon Hounsou, Eric Bana, Aidan Gillen, Freddie Fox, Craig McGinlay, Tom Wu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, David Beckham
Directed by: Guy Ritchie
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
2017

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Arthur (Charlie Hunnam) is called upon to rise from his upbringing on the streets and claim his rightful throne from his malicious uncle (Jude Law).

Review:

Tim: I'm not entirely sure we needed another King Arthur movie. Audiences tended to agree, resulting in a $39 million box office take for this $175 million movie (that's epically bad). Now, you can kind of see how this attempt made sense- director Guy Ritchie had huge success with his Sherlock Holmes films, done in his trademark style. Why not apply that same style to another classic character? There are certainly strong moments throughout this film, but the movie is a disappointment. It's fine, it's perfectly decent, but it certainly doesn't match expectations.

I was initially torn on Charlie Hunnam playing the lead role. I kind of like him, but his acting was atrocious in Pacific Rim. I was really curious to see how he'd do here. I was fairly shocked to find that I loved his performance. He was believable, charismatic, and funny. He's easily the best part of the film and makes a very different, very entertaining Arthur. I thoroughly enjoyed his performance from start to finish. Hunnam is easily one of the film's highlights. I didn't expect that. Jude Law is more problematic as a villain. He's played the antagonist a few times in his career and I always feel like he falls just short of what he needs to do. He's bad, but he's never bad enough. It always feels like it's a stretch for him to play the bad guy. The best villains embrace their darkness and you just believe them in the role (Christoph Waltz) is a good example. Law never feels fully committed to his villainous roles. It feels like he's playing a bad guy, rather than truly embodying the role. It felt exactly like that here.

It was fun to see Djimon Hounsou, Eric Bana, and Aidan Gillen here, although all are smaller supporting players. Bana is able to make a good mark on the film, but Gillen could have used more to do and Hounsou was clearly underutilized. The rest of the supporting cast was decent.

Ritchie's trademark fast talking, stylized action is an interesting fit for the Arthurian legend. There's definitely some extremely cool action sequences in this film. The power of Excalibur (which isn't really that well explained) allows for some incredibly cool moments. It doesn't exactly feel believable, but it's really fun to watch. I give Ritchie credit for those sequences. The visual effects are solid throughout the movie. I also liked Ritchie's trademark dialogue. It shows up in a few places, the lightning fast back-and-forth. Those were among the strong moments of the film. Ritchie's style didn't quite fit the story, but it made for a unique viewing experience. You may have seen many other King Arthur films before, but none quite like this one. That's a very good thing.

One of the major problems with this film is that while there are super cool moments and some interesting characters, the larger story feels far too generic. There's an evil king and he wants more power. There's your classic underdog hero. Ritchie might have style in spades, but the substance of this film was lacking. Once you get past the cool exterior, the film is surprisingly bland. You don't really develop an emotional connection with any of the characters, the plot feels tired. There are these exciting moments, but then stretches were things are just okay. It adds up to a 2 hour, 6 minute film that feels longer than it is. It offers a decent enough viewing experience, but it's not one you want to take again.

I give credit to King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (tangent- it's a terrible, forgettable title) for trying something different. Unfortunately, the cool style doesn't change the fact that this film is traveling familiar ground. Ritchie's film is a decent movie, but there's so many better King Arthur movies out there. If we're going to get another one, we needed one that was better than this.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: King Arthur, Excalibur, First Knight, A Knight's Tale, Sherlock Holmes