Guy Ritchie's (Pearly) King Arthur

[SavageHedgehog]

I caught a free preview screening of this last Thursday. It's not released in the UK until 19th May, and indeed is only going on general release anywhere in the world over the next week. I initially thought Warner Bros must have had a lot of confidence in this as a "crowdpleaser" to have previews so far ahead of the actual release, but it then occurred to me that they probably feel a need to do absolutely anything they can to raise interest in an expensive retelling of a stuffy old legend to a 12a/PG-13 demographic used to superheroes and robots appearing every other week during the summer. And indeed, it turns out there were a number of preview screenings that same night across the US.

Still, it was nice to get a feel for one of these films without being coloured by the perception of any other reviews whatsoever. I found it to be passable fun, but not very satisfactory, and definitely a real mess. I'd be very surprised if this wasn't a hasty edit from a 2.5-3 hour first cut, or at least the product of a very difficult production. The opening scene leaves several moments unshown, so it can flash back to them later, when a straightforward, linear telling of the events would have been far more effective and engaging. There's a crucial action beat around the half-way mark which is baffling shown only in vaguely decipherable montage.

The tone and approach of the film is muddled as well, veering from embracing the fantastic inherint in its origins, to attempting a more grounded take, to, yes, giving the Knights of the Round Table a Lock Stock geezer edge you might have got in a Mitchell & Webb spoof Guy Ritchie King Arthur 10 years ago. In this it reminded me quite a bit of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, a film beloved of my generation but not so much by me personally. It also brought back memories of the dire Clash of the Titans reboot, though it's certainly not that bad.

Early in the film, when it has been at its least jokey, there's a

Spoiler alert

David Beckham cameo, with a "turn to the camera, surprise, it's me!" moment

[close]

which feels totally out of place.

Still, I didn't feel it was a total loss; the film works best, I think, when it veers into the fantastic, and the CGI Creatures are done with some style that's more redolent of stop-motion creatures than it is some of the blander CGI creations we sometimes see in this sort of thing. The performances are OK; Jude Law probably comes off the best as a hammy villain, but his role doesn't amount to enough to be a truly memorable baddie. I certainly liked this a fair bit more than last year's over-budgeted attempt to revive an old staple (The Legend of Tarzan).

Any thoughts? Or do you not care and feel most of the public will agree with you on that?

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I expect it's going to be a big flop. I did find myself a bit more interested when I saw that they were going all high fantasy with it, but not enough to bother paying over ten quid to see it.

[Thomas]

'King Arthur: Legend of the Sword'. I hate when standalone films have colons like that.

I think I won't see this film ever.

[kidsick5000]

I open to it being fun.
I never expected Guy Ritchie to create such a fun couple of Sherlock Holmes films (third one possibly happening) so I'm open to enjoying it.
But I'm perplexed by the setting - Guy Ritchie does LOTR - simply because things just weren't like that. It didn't feel like the right type of fantasy.
Then again, I think Hunnam is better suited to this than Lost City Of Z. He needs plenty of action to react to rather than holding the screen on his own.
He must have filmed Arthur and Z close together because his hair's the same in both

[NoSleep]

...or went back to the same barber.

[Talulah, really!]

'King Arthur: Legend of the Sword'. I hate when standalone films have colons like that.

I think I won't see this film ever.

From what I gather, isn't it meant to be the first in a franchise, like, er, The Man from Uncle?

Anyway the trailer made it look like another pile of generic CGI fantasy bollocks.

[Avril Lavigne]

From what I gather, isn't it meant to be the first in a franchise, like, er, The Man from Uncle?

I think pretty much every movie now is meant to be the first in a franchise.

[goinggoinggone]

Did anyone catch that interview he did on the Joe Rogan podcast the other day? 

It reminded me why I haven't really paid much attention to his output post-Revolver.  He spends a large chunk of the interview earnestly talking about personalizing suits.

[kidsick5000]

From what I gather, isn't it meant to be the first in a franchise, like, er, The Man from Uncle?

It's one of the few stories that seems to need that origin story. Not sure where you take the story beyond that. Thinking about it, are there that many stories about Arthur? Only that Connery, Gere film First Knight centred on a later Arthur story.

[spock rogers]

Here's the Beckham cameo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svet_kgDtYw

Stop trying to make Beckham a thing in the films! He's awful. Nice to also see the trademark Guy Ritchie shot of a pitbull barking.[nb]Because hard men own pitbulls! Do you see?[/nb]

[thraxx]

This looks impossibly shit.  It must be a joke.

[Small Man Big Horse]

It's one of the few stories that seems to need that origin story. Not sure where you take the story beyond that. Thinking about it, are there that many stories about Arthur? Only that Connery, Gere film First Knight centred on a later Arthur story.

There's quite a few, including this classic - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Knight_in_Camelot

[kidsick5000]

There's quite a few, including this classic - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Knight_in_Camelot

But of accepted Arthur tales rather than the Twain twist which make him a sidekick?

ie How many ways can you carve up the plot of Excalibur.
Are there any tales that didn't make it to the Boorman film?

[Shit Good Nose]

I'm sure one of the theatrical posters had both Hunnam and Law in modern garb - does it get a bit time-travel/immortal-quest-y?

Also, how do they deal with Bedivere in it?  Please tell me Djimon Hounsou attempts a Welsh accent...

[Bazooka]

Who plays Excalibur?

[NoSleep]

Ron Sword (minus his axe)

[bim sherman shirts]

I think pretty much every movie now is meant to be the first in a franchise.

"We Need To Talk About : Kevin"

[Brundle-Fly]

I think pretty much every movie now is meant to be the first in a franchise.

Cynic.

[Bad Ambassador]

His appearance on Graham Norton on Friday was amusing, as he kept forgetting which accent he has.

[MuteBanana]

His wife is ridiculous. Why the fuck did he waste so many years on Madge?

[Bad Ambassador]

In case you didn't know, this crashed BADLY in the US over the weekend, making less than $15m in its opening weekend, despite a $175m budget. It'll be lucky to make half that worldwide at present.

[Bazooka]

In case you didn't know, this crashed BADLY in the US over the weekend, making less than $15m in its opening weekend, despite a $175m budget. It'll be lucky to make half that worldwide at present.

It will do well in the Asian market.

[Bad Ambassador]

Unlikely, given that China will have no idea who King Arthur is. Also, its already out there.

[Small Man Big Horse]

It will do well in the Asian market.

As BA mentions it's already been released and considered a massive disappointment taking only $5 million dollars. I'm hoping the producers will blame Beckham and he'll never be cast in a film again.

[Glebe]

It will do well in the Asian market.

On bootleg DVD.

[greenman]

In case you didn't know, this crashed BADLY in the US over the weekend, making less than $15m in its opening weekend, despite a $175m budget. It'll be lucky to make half that worldwide at present.

King Half A(budget).

It will be interesting to see how well that Cruise Mummy film does as it is increasingly looking like anything that doesn't have a strong inbuilt audience is dead in the water these days.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

It will be interesting to see how well that Cruise Mummy film does as it is increasingly looking like anything that doesn't have a strong inbuilt audience is dead in the water these days.

The studios are clearly banking on stuff like that, this and last year's Tarzan one having inbuilt audiences, just based on their well known names. It never works though. I'm sure The Mummy will flop, along with the whole planned Universal Monsters shared universe idea.

[kidsick5000]

His appearance on Graham Norton on Friday was amusing, as he kept forgetting which accent he has.

It happens when you live overseas for sometime (and work in a different accent for most of it)

[greenman]

From Nothing Comes A Newcastle Manager

[Neomod]

The prognosis is not good.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/may/16/epic-fail-why-has-king-arthur-flopped-so-badly

Then again Charlie Hunnam is the world's worst actor.