It’s been a while since we last saw a medieval adventure hitting the big screen, but Guy Ritchie is taking us all back to the story of Camelot with his latest release, King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword. As you’d expect, this isn’t your average, happy-go-lucky jaunt in the past. While everybody doesn’t get shot, you might be inclined to expect at least a little blood-letting, but with swords and arrows replacing gunfire.
Richie’s last movie was The Man From U.N.C.L.E., which was action packed, but far from brutal, and you’ll have to go back to 2008’s RocknRolla for anything much more ferocious, so the writer, director and producer has toned things down a little in recent years. However, you’ve only got to watch just a little of the trailer below to see that his latest outing is a heavy hitting and slashing interpretation of the story.
Release date
The King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword UK release date was Friday the 19th May 2017, which is a week later than it arrived in cinemas in the US. It’s out at the box office on the same weekend in the UK as Anne Hathaway monster movie comedy Colossal and mother daughter comedy Snatched. It has a relatively clear run for the number one spot – at least until Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge gets released the following week – but with tough reviews, including our own below, it hasn’t been the straightforward release Guy Ritchie might have hoped for.
Story
It turns out that Arthur has grown up as a street urchin in medieval Britain, unaware of his birthright, but when he gets old enough and ripped enough, he’s let in the secret and sets off to pull Excalibur from the stone. The problem is that all is not well with the kingdom, which is now ruled by the magical iron fist of Vortigen, and the retrieval of the sword is just the beginning of the battle facing the street running bruiser.
If that isn’t enough, there’s also a lot of mythology boiled into the plot, which you can see in the trailer below. There’s everything from dragons and witches to hovering balls of flames, giant elephants and creepy tree creatures.
King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword movie posters:
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Cast
Arthur Pendragon is played by Charlie Hunnam (The Lost City Of Z), who you might recognise from his parts in Pacific Rim and Sons Of Anarchy. He’s joined by Jude Law (The Grand Budapest Hotel), who plays is opposite number, Vortigern, as well as Eric Banna (Star Trek (2009)), who stars as his dead father Uther. The cast also includes Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey as Mage (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), Djimon Hounsou (Guardians Of The Galaxy) as Bedivere and Aidan Gillen (The Dark Knight Rises) as Goosefat Bill.
Age rating
King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword has been given an age rating of 12A in the UK by the British Board Of Film Classification (BBFC) with infrequent strong language, moderate violence, and threat, so it isn’t quite as claret strewn as Guy Ritchie’s earlier films.
Production
In addition to directing the film, Richie is also co-writer of the screenplay, along with Joby Harold (Edge Of Tomorrow) and Lionel Wigram (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.), from a story by David Dobkin (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) and Harold. The film has been produced by Ritchie, Harold, Wigram, Akiva Goldsman, Tory Tunnell and Steve Clarke-Hall.
Review
We were clinging to the fence ahead of the release of King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword, but the final result has gone the wrong way with misfiring direction and a lead character that is tough to feel connected to. The trailer left a little room for the possibility of a decent film and while it isn’t quite as bad as some of the more severe reviews have made out, it isn’t the epic adventure that it should have been. The running cam shots used in some of the scenes look and feel a bit too gimmicky, but they’re the least of the film’s worries as it struggles to find itself in between a little humour and more serious intentions.
It’s nowhere near as well delivered as Guy Ritchie’s previous big screen release, The Man From U.N.C.L.E, which was very well put together, despite a decent enough cast. Charlie Hunnam doesn’t get the right prompts to come across well as King Arthur, and while Jude Law does well as the medieval villain, it’s not enough to make this a barrel smoker. Read our full King Arthur: The Legend Of The Sword review for more details.
