King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

I had a conversation earlier in the day about what kind of twist this new version of King Arthur would have for us.  There is always a way the story unfolds a little differently then the legend we were all told as children.  I was not at all prepared for the Guy Ritchie version though.

The movie had a rhythm that took me a little too long to catch.  At first it felt like an overly long opening where I was being brought up to speed, prepared if you will, for what was to come.  But, it was just that in the period costumes and surrounded by magic and sword play I didn’t see the gangster of it.  Once I did though I was able to enjoy the mash up.  Imagine a cross over between Robin Hood and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels combined with a general sword in the stone story line and you have the feature film King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

King Arthur played by Charlie Hunnam felt more like Robin Hood then a king leading what felt more like merry men than knights of the round table into battle to save the kingdom.  Among his compatriots, my favorite was Sir Bedivere played by Djimon Hounsou.  He single-handedly managed to ground the group as well as provide plenty of humor.  Aiden Gillen played Goosefat Bill, a character who had talent with a bow and arrow, and as my movie companion explained to me, his familiarity as a Game of Thrones actor also reminded theatre goers that there was probably going to be a lot of death in this film and not to get to attached to any specific character.   The real heart of the film was of course a kid, Blue; who was played by the actor Bleu Landau, who was adorable, charming and brave.  I thought I would relate best to Astrid Berges-Frisbey who played the mage, mostly because she was the only heroine in the film with more than three scenes but I found her kind of flat and underdeveloped.  Her purpose in the film was of the one dimensional variety,  to propel the hero onward and do some pretty cool magic while she was at it.

There wasn’t much that was theatre worthy about the film,  some interesting sound effects that might not work as well in your living room and also some fun visuals but my recommendation is to watch it on your couch.  In the end the film had more style than substance but it was a style worth watching.