Cons: Slow in few spots. Some things not explained.
The Bottom Line: King Arthur was a different telling of the legend of Arthur and the knights of the round table. It was entertaining, though it had a few problems.
There have been many movies made over the years dealing with the legend of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. I know the basics of the legend, but not everything. I have seen some of the movies, though I don’t really have a huge interest in the legend. I have seen previews for King Arthur for months and did think it looked interesting. I wasn’t completly sure that I wanted to see the movie, but I had the chance to see it so I went.
When the movie began, there was some brief information about the legend of King Arthur. It also said that some new archaeological evidence had been uncovered about who the Arthur of legend really was. It wasn’t explained what the evidence was.
The Roman empire was expanding. After a battle, a small group of soldiers were still alive. They were made part of the Roman army, and their sons would also be made to serve the Roman army. Many years later, descendants of the soldiers were stationed in Britain, under the command of Arthur. They were looking forward to gaining their freedom after being in the army for fifteen years. Arthur and his knights were legendary. Lancelot, Galahad, Tristan, Gawain, Bors, and Dagonet didn’t like being stuck on the island and wanted to leave. Arthur was looking forward to returning to Rome. They had been fighting the Woad, natives of Britain that didn’t want to be under Roman rule. Merlin lead the Woad. Instead of being released from the army, Arthur and his men were given another assignment. The Roman army was pulling out of Britain. Before leaving, an important Roman family living to the north had to be rescued.
Arthur and the knights weren’t happy about the new assignment. Lancelot seemed to be the most upset. To get to the family, Arthur and the knights would have to travel through the territory of the Woad. They needed to get to the family as soon as possible because the Saxons were invading from the north and killing everyone they encountered. Once at the home of the Roman family, Arthur discovered prisoners, including a Woad woman, Guinevere, that he insisted on freeing. The prisoners had been horribly tortured in the name of religion. Guinevere was a warrior and had some connection to Merlin. She fought with Arthur and the knights when they made a stand against the advancing Saxons. Arthur learned that Rome was nothing like he had imagined. He felt conflicted with his loyalties and had to decide what he was going to do. The knights realized that they had more ties to Britain than they originally thought. Merlin wanted Arthur to fight with the Woad against the Saxons.
CAST
Clive Owen - Arthur
Ioan Gruffudd - Lancelot
Mads Mikkelsen - Tristan
Joel Edgerton - Gawain
Hugh Dancy - Galahad
Ray Winstone - Bors
Ray Stevenson - Dagonet
Keira Knightly - Guinevere
Stephen Dillane - Merlin
Stellan Skarsgard - Cerdic
Til Schweiger - Cynric
Antoine Fuqua - Director
King Arthur was released on July 7, 2004. The movie was 130 minutes long. It was rated PG-13. I don’t think this is a movie for young children. I don’t think children would be interested in the movie anyway.
I didn’t think that the plot of King Arthur was that complex. It did seem predictable to me, though there were some things that happened that I didn’t expect. There was a little bit of suspense a few times, but I didn’t think that the movie was suspenseful overall. Arthur and his men had been stationed in Britain for fifteen years and fought the Woad. They were all looking forward to being discharged from the army when instead they were given another assignment that forced them into enemy territory. Arthur saw things that gave him doubts about Rome. He and his men must then decide if they are going to go to Rome when the army pulls out, or remain behind to fight with the Woad against the Saxons. There really wasn’t a lot of explanation for why Arthur, and especially the knights would want to remain and fight with the people they have been fighting against for fifteen years. Bors, one of the knights, did have eleven children, and he did seem to have some conflicting feelings about what exactly he was going to do about his family once he was discharged. The other men had been very vocal about how much they hated Britain and how badly they wanted off the island. They were disturbed by what they saw at the home of the Roman family, but that didn’t seem like enough of a reason for them to change their minds about leaving.
I went into seeing King Arthur knowing the basics of the legend of Arthur and the knights of the round table. The movie was very different from the little I remembered of the legend. The movie took place hundreds of years earlier. Arthur was half Roman and his knights were forced into the Roman army. Merlin wasn’t a wizard. Instead he was the leader of the Woad, people that looked like a tribe, that fought against Arthur and the knights. Guinevere was Woad, and talented with a bow and arrow. She was a fierce warrior. Bits of the legend did turn up here and there in the movie. The round table did make an appearance in a few scenes. Arthur’s sword was called Excalibur, and there was a flashback that showed how Arthur got the sword. He pulled it out of a grave instead of out of a stone. Arthur and Guinevere did end up developing feelings for each other. There really wasn’t the love triangle featuring them and Lancelot, though Lancelot and Guinevere did exchange a few looks. The differences didn’t really bother me, but it did seem a bit weird that Guinevere was a warrior. She fought right alongside the men, and in one very important battle, the Woad men did seem to be following her lead. I don’t remember Arthur and the knights ever dealing with the Saxons invading, but that may be because I’m not as familiar with the legend. Arthur and the knights were well known in Britain for being fierce on the battlefield.
There were some battle scenes in King Arthur. Near the beginning of the movie, Arthur and the knights fought a small group of the Woad. Later when they were heading back with the Roman family, they made a stand against the Saxons at a frozen lake. That fight was impressive, and it was the first time that Guinevere fought with the men against the Saxons. There was a large battle at the end of the movie. It was well done, though the camera work became very jerky during the battle, making it difficult to tell who was doing what then. Arrows were very important to the battles. Some characters, including Guinevere also fought with swords. The sword fighting was more like what was seen in The Lord of the Rings movies. The swords were larger and broader than the ones used in the fights in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and The Mask of Zorro. Earlier in the movie, the Saxons were shown moving through a few areas that they left in ruins. They killed everyone they encountered. That wasn’t shown, but the ruins were shown. People were killed in the battles, but the violence wasn’t as extreme as in some movies. People who don’t like to see violent scenes in movies should pick a different movie. The battle scenes did add action to the movie. Some of the times in the movie between the fights did drag a bit.
For most of the movie, Arthur and the knights were dressed normally for the time. They did show up in full armor later in the movie. Some of the Roman army was shown in armor at different times as well. The Woad wore very little and were covered in paint when fighting. Guinevere seemed to wear even less than the men. She went off to battle wearing a top that barely covered her. It seemed like a primitive bikini top to me. I never did figure out why the Woad didn’t have any sort of armor for more protection when going into battle. Earlier in the movie, Guinevere did turn up wearing a dress. The costumes did look good.
Arthur and Guinevere met for the first time when he rescued her from where she had been held prisoner by the Roman family. That was about half way into King Arthur. She was near death at that time, though she seemed to recover quickly. She and Arthur did develop feelings, though there wasn’t much of their growing relationship shown. There was a sex scene between Arthur and Guinevere. Some skin was shown, but neither Arthur or Guinevere was shown nude. That was really it for the romance aspect of the movie. Lancelot and Guinevere shared a few looks, but the movie never went into the part of the legend where those two ended up involved as well.
Arthur seemed to work how he was portrayed in this movie, though it would have been better if there had been a bit more explanation for why he did a few things. Guinevere was very different from how I have seen her portrayed before. It was interesting to see her in a different light as a fighter. She had some kind of connection to Merlin that wasn’t explained though. She might have just been one of the Woad, or there could have been some sort of family relationship there. Either way, it wasn’t said for sure. Merlin was very different. He was leading a tribe that battled Arthur. Merlin looked like a wild man most of the times he turned up. Lancelot seemed a bit whiney at times. Bors kept his sense of humor throughout the movie. He had eleven children that he and their mother hadn’t named. They called them by numbers. Dagonet felt protective of a child prisoner they rescued from the Roman family, and later made a sacrifice. There really wasn’t that much shared about the other knights. Tristan, Gawain, and Galahad all looked similar, with dark hair that was a bit longer, so I had trouble telling them apart.
The Saxons were only shown as brutal invaders. The only two that really had any scenes were the man leading the invasion and his son. The two seemed to be clashing a bit over leadership and strategy. I think that the father’s name was Cerdic, but I don’t think I ever heard his name. I didn’t hear his son’s name either, but going by the cast list, I think it was Cynric. Those two had some disagreements about how to lead the Saxons. They were flat characters. The Saxons as a whole were depicted as being primitive, brutal warriors. I have no idea how accurate that depiction is because I have long since forgotten what I learned about the Saxons in history classes.
I thought that the acting in King Arthur was good. I think Clive Owen did well as Arthur. He had a small part in The Bourne Identity. I’ve never seen Ioan Gruffudd in anything before, but it did fine as Lancelot. He did seem to go a little over board in one or two scenes, but it wasn’t too bad. I did notice that Arthur and Lancelot managed to look really good throughout the movie, regardless of what they were doing. They looked better groomed than the other men. I think that the other knights looked a little more realistic with their hair and stubble. Bors and Dagonet had shaved heads, as did the one Saxon. I liked Ray Winstone as Bors. He added some humor at different times that helped to lighten the mood. He played a much different part in Cold Mountain. Keira Knightly was good as Guinevere. I first saw her last summer in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and later in a small part in Love Actually. Stellan Skarsgard, if he was the character I think he was, did well with the part, though he didn’t have a lot do work with. I think his part was more complex in No Good Deed. Til Schweiger, who I think was the Saxon son, did good as well. I looked him up online and he looks like that character. He had a part in Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. The acting wasn’t great, but it was good.
CHARACTERS
Arthur - He was part Roman and lead a group of men that were forced to serve in the Roman army. Arthur had ideas about how he thought it was in Rome. He didn’t want his knights to have to go on another mission, but he believed they had to. He wanted them to get their hard earned freedom. Arthur did have compassion.
Lancelot - One of Arthur’s knights. Lancelot was vocal when he didn’t agree with Arthur about some things. Lancelot was good in battle. He just wanted to go home.
Bors - He had eleven children with a woman he hadn’t married. Only one child had a name and the rest of them were called numbers. He kept his sense of humor even when they were in bad situations.
Guinevere - Woad woman warrior that fought with Arthur and the knights. She was good in battle.
Merlin - Man who lead the Woad. He wanted Arthur’s help in battling the Saxons.
Tristan, Gawain, Galahad, and Dagonet - Arthur’s knights. They were fierce in battle and all wanted to leave Britain after their fifteen years of service to the Roman army was over.
Saxons - Fierce group that was invading Britain from the north.
King Arthur was an entertaining movie that is worth seeing. People who are more familiar with the legend of Arthur and the knights of the round table may be more disappointed with how things work out in the movie. I didn’t like it as much as Spider-Man 2, but I did enjoy it. King Arthur is another movie I would have gone with 3.5 stars if I had the option, but since I don't, I rounded up.
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