King Arthur: Legend of the Sword Review

As King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was released in the US a week before the UK, I couldn't escape the headlines stating that this film was a massive waste of time. I have to be honest: I was shocked to hear this, as Guy Ritchie films are usually well received across the board and have rarely been criticised as heavily as this film. This, though, didn't stop me from going to watch the movie, as I believe you should form your own opinion. I've personally disagreed with the critics' ratings a few times before. Sadly, though, this was one of those times when I had to agree with the reviews I'd been seeing: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is not a good film.

I really wanted to enjoy this movie. Being a huge Guy Ritchie fan, I had a lot of faith in him finally telling the story of King Arthur the right way. The only hesitation I had when this film was announced was that I don’t think Charlie Hunnam is the greatest of actors, after seeing him in films like Green Street and Pacific Rim. I think his acting comes across as a bit forced, but I had heard he was brilliant in Sons of Anarchy, so I was happy to give him another opportunity to prove himself. Sadly, after watching King Arthur, I felt he hadn't taken this opportunity, meaning the issues I have with him still remain.

The first 10 minutes or so of the film centred on a massive battle, which seemed a little bit too much. We see these huge elephants destroying Camelot castle, whilst it is also being overrun by enemy soldiers. It was all a little bit like something out of The Lord of the Rings, but executed quite badly. Once we get past this overwhelming scene, the film concentrates on Arthur, and at this point I felt it was starting to redeem itself. It seemed fairly grounded, and the story of Arthur’s coming of age was quite interesting. But as the film carried on and demanded more from Charlie Hunnam, it all started to fall apart for me. I don’t feel he was a good enough actor to lead this film, but saying that, the film didn’t do him any favours.

Generally, this film was an absolute mess, with scenes that just seemed really disjointed. I kept losing track of what was even going on or where the characters were. The story was so convoluted that you couldn’t quite work out what was going to happen next, which meant the flow was really off. On top of all of this, the CGI in some parts was really bad. At one point, when Arthur was using the sword’s full power, it even looked like a video game. Sadly, as I want to keep this spoiler-free, I cannot go into too much detail, but it is in the finer details that this film really lets itself down. There was just no consistency.

In Hunnam’s defence, the overall acting in this film was really bad. Everyone bar Jude Law was pretty shockingly bad in my opinion, especially Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, who played the character 'The Mage'. She seemed so stale and showed barely any emotion when performing her role. Thank God Jude Law was a prominent part of this film, so that it wasn't a complete let-down on the acting front. Law is a brilliant actor and keeps it up in this film. I particularly like him in the Sherlock Holmes films, which are coincidentally Ritchie films as well. The difference, though, is that those films were actually good.

To highlight something good in this film other than Jude Law, the soundtrack is brilliant. Daniel Pemberton composed this film’s score and has done a brilliant job yet again. Pemberton is fairly new to the big time in film composing, but he has started off really well, with scores for films like The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Steve Jobs, both of which are brilliant. I highly recommend having a listen to Daniel’s latest release for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. It is certainly worth a listen, even if you don’t plan on seeing the film.

Sadly, there isn't much to talk about with regard to this film, as it is genuinely a big let-down in my opinion, and a film Guy Ritchie will want to put behind him ASAP.

Let us know what you think of King Arthur: Legend of the Sword in the comments section below...

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