///M-Spec
Staff Emeritus
- 4,928
B.
Minimal spoilers in this review.
Its very Jerry Bruckheimer, so if you're a fan of his production style and the kinds of stories he likes to tell, then this flick is more of the same. Personally, I thought it delivered pretty much what it promised: a good action film with a side helping of character drama and lots of pretty eye candy. Don't go looking for much else and you'll be happy. This isn't your daddy's King Arthur tale.
The backstory developed for Arthur and his knights are an interesting twist. The movie tries to tell a story of Arthur as a real historical figure, rather than a traditional telling of the legend. It is the Dark Ages, about 497 AD. Instead of being native Brits, you discover that the knights are actually Sarmatians from Eastern Europe. Arthur is actually a Roman cavalry commander who is stationed in Britian during the end of the Roman Empire's influence there. I found this change pretty interesting, as I was never wedded to the traditional telling of King Arthur.
The knights spend their time protecting Romans against the native Woads. They look like blue painted Celts or Picts extras that took a wrong turn off the set of Braveheart and they are trying to get the damned Romans off their island. Arthur and his mounted knights, of course, pwn the poor saps without much effort. However, as the story begins, the knights' 15 year tour of duty in Britian is almost up, coincidently about the same time a bunch of rampaging, murderous Saxons arrive on the shores and starts to loot and burn everything in sight.
This sets up the story for Arthur and his knights to decide whether they skip town with the Romans and leave the Woads to fend against the barbaric Saxons for themselves or stick around and die like honorable Romans... which is ironic because the real Romans act anything but honorable.
The character interaction between Arthur and Lancelot, and the 'band of brothers' like bond between the knights serve up most of the drama. Arthur's slow disillusionment with the Roman Empire and all that it stands for rounds out the rest of the dramatic content. It is all well done, if not a little predicable. Clive Owen (Gosford Park) does a surprisingly fine job of portraying Arthur as a man with morals and convictions, despite the modest space to work with. His love and respect for his knights comes through clearly and really holds up well throughout the film.
The rest of the fast moving plot largely involves lots of fighting. Even Arthur's romance with super hot Guinevere is given little screen time. When they finally get together, you feel that it was mostly for service to the legend rather than any real chemistry between them.
The Saxons are the Big Baddies. They are your basic two dimensional Barabarian Horde with zero depth and is lead by Cerdic, played by Stellan Skarsgård (Ronin). Shame they didn't do anything more with a fine actor. The poor guy is reduced to mumbling ominously and scrowling at everything, including his own son, whom he pushes around like the Really Evil Guy he is.
Production values are typical Bruckheimer. Its a pretty film. Everything looks good. Especially uber-hottie Keira Knightly. Scratch that. She looks out of this world.
The major problem with this flick is that it is predicable as the day is long. The major villian is as dull and unimaginative as they come. They're not much uncertainty or tension. No plot twists. Even the big fight at the end is standard fare stuff we've already seen plenty of times. Worse, the gore is toned down to get a PG-13 rating, so you don't even get the satisfaction of seeing heads and limbs go flying. Thus you're kind of left rooting for a bunch of guys in a big fight and you know what's going to happen. Not much pay off at the end.
But as long as you expect this, you'll like this movie fine.
M
Minimal spoilers in this review.
Its very Jerry Bruckheimer, so if you're a fan of his production style and the kinds of stories he likes to tell, then this flick is more of the same. Personally, I thought it delivered pretty much what it promised: a good action film with a side helping of character drama and lots of pretty eye candy. Don't go looking for much else and you'll be happy. This isn't your daddy's King Arthur tale.
The backstory developed for Arthur and his knights are an interesting twist. The movie tries to tell a story of Arthur as a real historical figure, rather than a traditional telling of the legend. It is the Dark Ages, about 497 AD. Instead of being native Brits, you discover that the knights are actually Sarmatians from Eastern Europe. Arthur is actually a Roman cavalry commander who is stationed in Britian during the end of the Roman Empire's influence there. I found this change pretty interesting, as I was never wedded to the traditional telling of King Arthur.
The knights spend their time protecting Romans against the native Woads. They look like blue painted Celts or Picts extras that took a wrong turn off the set of Braveheart and they are trying to get the damned Romans off their island. Arthur and his mounted knights, of course, pwn the poor saps without much effort. However, as the story begins, the knights' 15 year tour of duty in Britian is almost up, coincidently about the same time a bunch of rampaging, murderous Saxons arrive on the shores and starts to loot and burn everything in sight.
This sets up the story for Arthur and his knights to decide whether they skip town with the Romans and leave the Woads to fend against the barbaric Saxons for themselves or stick around and die like honorable Romans... which is ironic because the real Romans act anything but honorable.
The character interaction between Arthur and Lancelot, and the 'band of brothers' like bond between the knights serve up most of the drama. Arthur's slow disillusionment with the Roman Empire and all that it stands for rounds out the rest of the dramatic content. It is all well done, if not a little predicable. Clive Owen (Gosford Park) does a surprisingly fine job of portraying Arthur as a man with morals and convictions, despite the modest space to work with. His love and respect for his knights comes through clearly and really holds up well throughout the film.
The rest of the fast moving plot largely involves lots of fighting. Even Arthur's romance with super hot Guinevere is given little screen time. When they finally get together, you feel that it was mostly for service to the legend rather than any real chemistry between them.
The Saxons are the Big Baddies. They are your basic two dimensional Barabarian Horde with zero depth and is lead by Cerdic, played by Stellan Skarsgård (Ronin). Shame they didn't do anything more with a fine actor. The poor guy is reduced to mumbling ominously and scrowling at everything, including his own son, whom he pushes around like the Really Evil Guy he is.
Production values are typical Bruckheimer. Its a pretty film. Everything looks good. Especially uber-hottie Keira Knightly. Scratch that. She looks out of this world.
The major problem with this flick is that it is predicable as the day is long. The major villian is as dull and unimaginative as they come. They're not much uncertainty or tension. No plot twists. Even the big fight at the end is standard fare stuff we've already seen plenty of times. Worse, the gore is toned down to get a PG-13 rating, so you don't even get the satisfaction of seeing heads and limbs go flying. Thus you're kind of left rooting for a bunch of guys in a big fight and you know what's going to happen. Not much pay off at the end.
But as long as you expect this, you'll like this movie fine.
M
it's just a half-decent Gladiator wannabee.
, the rock, con air etc i even liked pearl harbour.
