Reviewed by Victor Rebikoff.
Director: Guy Ritchie, Village Roadshow, M 126 Minutes.
Similar to his rendering of ‘Sherlock Holmes’ British director Guy Ritchie has adopted a different take on the telling of the King Arthur mythology by beginning with his early life and then his attainment of the legendary sword.
As the story opens Arthur’s father King Uther (Aussie Eric Bana – ‘Hanna’) is seen in a fierce battle against some giant (CGI) elephants before being defeated by a supernatural force which allows his greedy brother Vortigern (Jude Law – ‘Spy’) to grab the crown.
In Ritchie’s rendition, Arthur (Charlie Hunnan – ‘Deadfall’) is raised in a brothel and learns life’s lessons on the Londinium streets where he forms many friendships especially with Percival (Craig McGinlay – in his film debut) and Rubio (Freddie Fox – ‘Victor Frankenstein’).
After some exchanges with Vortigern’ s Blacklegs, Arthur’s encounter with the black knight Bedivere (Djimon Hounsou –‘Gladiator’) and the sorceress Mage (Astrid Berges-Frisbey – ‘Juliette’) leads him to Excalibur to claim it as his lawful birthright.
But it takes some time for Arthur to gain control of the sword while attempting to convince several barons to join him and his rebels in overthrowing Vortigern, who is desperate to destroy the heir to the Camelot crown.
With the help of George (Tom Wu – ‘Mutant Chronicles’) Arthur’s martial arts tutor he finally masters the power of Excalibur by vanquishing Vortigern’s demonic form and bringing peace to his kingdom-in addition to rebuilding his round table.
Many movies have been made on the King Arthur story but none as different as this latest revision which apart from some entertaining scenes (due to Richie’s splendid special effects) he may have possibly miscast Hunnan as Arthur.
There is no doubting Hunnan’s fine performance in ‘Sons of Anarchy’ but in his ‘King Arthur’ role he lacks a distinct finesse as a future king especially in addressing medieval friends and foes as “mate”.
In spite of this and Law’s mediocre portrayal of his character, the movie’s main highlight would have to be the actioned-filled storyline with any suggestion of a sequel dependent on the success of Richie’s Arthur reincarnation.
King Arthur-Legend Of The Sword is being televised at 8.45pm on 9GO Saturday 13 February.
Vic’s Verdict: 3 Stars
