Another King Arthur movie? Ugh... And, guess what, we have some sort of Transformers movie dealing with the King Arthur material coming up in July that looks attainable with curiosity but looks like another product of stupidity. I don't know. We'll see. But, with this King Arthur version, I had very low expectations because of its trailers and I'm not too fond of Guy Ritchie's direction and style. However, his last two of three movies have been solid. With this movie, it is the typical blurb of "style over substance" that takes over my interest and has the thought of saying that the movie falls with dire disappointment and almost dizziness.
Young Arthur Pendragon has been living in a brothel after Vortigern (Jude Law) has killed Arthur's parents (Eric Bana and Poppy Delevingne) to overthrow his brother, Uther (Bana) and to retain a title as king. As he grew older, Arthur spends his time on the streets, getting into trouble and pick fights with those that harass him. He grows into an adult (Charlie Hunnam) as he grows stronger and a bit more cocky. Arthur tends to a friend names Lucy (Nicola Wren), a prostitute, who was assaulted by Vikings. Arthur was speaking to a commander who raided the brothel and sees a man in hiding named Goosefat Bill Turner (Aiden Gillan). However, Arthur gets into an altercation with Vikings and gets sent onto a ship on the way to the kingdom.
Vortigern does not yet have his full power and as he speaks to the sirens, the sirens tell him once he kills Arthur and takes the power of the sword, he will succeed. Basically, it turns into another adaptation of "Sword and the Stone". Arthur and hundreds of other men go to the stone and when Arthur takes his turn, he slowly pulls off the sword from the stone and passes from the powerful bolt of energy. Arthur wakes up in Vortigern's dungeon as he is about to be executed because he wants to have the power. But, Uther's former general, Sir Bedevere (Djimon Hounsou) sends a woman known as The Mage (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey) to help Arthur and let him escape from execution. Arthur has to realize he has to accept his destiny and fight his uncle.
I did not think that this movie was too bad because the movie had some over-the-top performances which elevated the movie's energy. But, the problem is Guy Ritchie's direction and camerawork that does not work because it does not mesh with the CGI extravaganza. The battle sequences are really good when I watched and I thought was fantastic, however, the editing, close-ups, zoom-ins and shaky camerawork were too much and did not gel and then it gets dizzying. He approaches that epic feel with marrying it with the CGI because he feels like it is warranted and adds to the movie. But, no. And, also, I did not like how they added the sword's importance to the movie. I mean, I don't care.
Charlie Hunnam gives an admirable performance as King Arthur and becomes an important symbol to defeat his uncle and take over the kingdom. But, his character becomes too annoyed of everything for the first half and that becomes a little tiresome. Jude Law chews up the scenery as the villain. There is a fun supporting cast that does get lost in the cacophonous sound of swords, explosions and visuals.
I will say that the movie starts real well but then it becomes a bit indistinct and a bit refreshing and then it turns into a music video of too much visual effects that is a detriment to the movie. I do like the elephants in the battle sequence that almost brought me back to the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King battles that were visually stunning. This movie is like a noisy train that zips by very quickly that you cannot notice the performances or cannot have the time to breathe and relax. There is a very good movie there somewhere but it gets lost in the shuffle of Guy Ritchie's crazy style and he needs to take a few steps or five steps back to realize the potential to make a competent movie.
**1/2
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