Part of the reason I wanted to see this film was because it was to be a representation of the "true" King Arthur minus all that Sword in the Stone and magic hookum.
The film isn't necessarily a bad one, it's just not a good one - it occupies that middle ground - perhaps the worst place for a movie to be. I thought the acting was passable (though Arthur's knights - supposedly from Central Asia - speak English either with a Cockney accent or as if they were educated at Eaton).
The film lapses into "Braveheart"-itis several times, right down to the "inspiring" (more like insipid) speech Arthur gives his troops before they face thousands of Saxon warriors. You know this speech by heart now (you're heard it in "Braveheart", "Return of the King", "Troy", "Gladiator" etc). It's the one where the king says: "If this be our destiny to die upon this day, then let us embrace that destiny and meet it with courage, honor, and blah blah blah". And then raises his sword above his head with a thunderous yell. This might have been great a few years ago - but enough already.
The battle scenes themselves are not bad - but in its quest to get an PG-13 rating, ALL of the gore (and thus an R rating) have been exorcised from the film - further adding to the sheer mediocrity of the film.
Ah well - maybe Oliver Stone will do a better job with "Alexander".
The film isn't necessarily a bad one, it's just not a good one - it occupies that middle ground - perhaps the worst place for a movie to be. I thought the acting was passable (though Arthur's knights - supposedly from Central Asia - speak English either with a Cockney accent or as if they were educated at Eaton).
The film lapses into "Braveheart"-itis several times, right down to the "inspiring" (more like insipid) speech Arthur gives his troops before they face thousands of Saxon warriors. You know this speech by heart now (you're heard it in "Braveheart", "Return of the King", "Troy", "Gladiator" etc). It's the one where the king says: "If this be our destiny to die upon this day, then let us embrace that destiny and meet it with courage, honor, and blah blah blah". And then raises his sword above his head with a thunderous yell. This might have been great a few years ago - but enough already.
The battle scenes themselves are not bad - but in its quest to get an PG-13 rating, ALL of the gore (and thus an R rating) have been exorcised from the film - further adding to the sheer mediocrity of the film.
Ah well - maybe Oliver Stone will do a better job with "Alexander".
