It is a Bruckheimer production. And with that comes the rule: take it for what it is or leave it be. If you are looking for historical accuracy this is not your movie. I've critized similar movies in the past for butchering classic stories yet this feels different. It plays with an idea and it doesn't try to add a cool factor. I like the whole look of the movie that is so opposed to the beautiful and clean look of the old Arthur movies. It has a pretty good cast (another reason for me wanting to watch this) who all do a good enough job for what is required to sell this story. The battles (especially the last) are really good - not those from above with 1000s of CGI characters battleing each other but more like I recon those battles back than really took place. Alltogether an entertaining movie in the tradition of other Bruckheimer productions with another great score from Hans Zimmer.
And a fight between Stellan Skarsgard and Mads Mikkelsen has something special to it.
I had a lot of fun with 'King Arthur'!
It has all of the ingredients of an entertaining film for me. I'm a sucker for a great score and this 2004 flick has just that, from the very first scene in fact - great way to open the movie! Absolutely no surprise whatsoever to see that Hans Zimmer was on music for this - legend!
There are also a number of actors that I like from other productions. Keira Knightley is the standout in my opinion, followed by Ioan Gruffudd - who has a great voice for narration, which kept bringing back fond memories of his showing as Henry Morgan in severely underrated television show 'Forever'. Those two I enjoyed most, though Ray Winstone, Stephen Dillane (if underused) and Stellan Skarsgård (if a tad underwhelming) are positives as well.
The one obvious omission from that previous paragraph is Clive Owen, who of course plays the titular character. I'm mixed on his performance. He nailed (most of) the speeches, though I wasn't convinced with his overall acting level. I feel like the filmmakers should've chosen someone more commanding to lead this, Owen is a little bit too meh in my eyes.
No idea, nor interest in truth, in how supposedly accurate this is in regards to folklore, but simply judging it as a film I can only say I got what I wanted from it - entertainment. 8/10.
I just love this film
Sort of a mess of a film innit, but it's my mess that I grew up through. If you read up on its production it just gets worse. A director hamstrung by Disney - which was shamelessly trying to cash in on the success of LotR, Knightley's breasts being digitally enlarged in promotional material, the blatant historical and mythological inaccuracies - which would be fine if this film wasn't marketed as wholly accurate (it was), and the hilarious casting of Dancy and Gruffudd (in action sequences they look almost identical lol). As an aside, Gruffudd had a pretty shit run lol, this into Fantastic Four (2005), yeesh.
Here's the thing though, sort of similar to The King (2019), I don't actually watch these kinds of movies for their historical accuracy lol. It's like any action/adventure piece, I'm just here to be entertained. And I personally like the gritty, foggy, misty, dark Arthurian tale. Films like this primed everyone for Game of Thrones in the next decade. It is a shame, though, that what is basically an ensemble cast is entirely fumbled.
I'm glad Fuqua got to release what is closer to his vision as a DVD director's cut, but the damage was sort of already done, right? It's totally understandable why this copped so much flack when it came out and why it's been memory holed, but hey I still think about Knightley joking about Gruffudd getting raped by Saxons (wonder if that made the PG theatrical cut...).
Veeeery weak 7, and most of that is because childhood.
P.S. Always loved a shaggy druid Mads (who would team up with Dancy later in Hannibal!!!).
Shout by WardVIP 8BlockedParent2016-01-10T07:37:39Z— updated 2019-10-18T00:23:26Z
I was totally into this film and there were a few moments i was almost brought to tears and many moments i was laughing at how corny it all was but i was just totally into it. I can see why people dislike it though but i was just really into it.