King Arthur : Legend of the Sword - Movie Review

By: Hamza Shafique

To be honest I wasn’t impressed with the trailers but last weekend there were not many options in cinema so I unwillingly booked for ‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’.Tale of King Arthur has been told many times before, in fact I have seen at least 4 films on this subject and all of them were just ordinary. So, I was wondering what new this installment on the same subject can offer but Guy Ritchie’s style of retelling the ancient folklore of King Arthur is quite new and innovative. 

There is so much content and story packed in this one film that it could have been easily made as a trilogy.  His treatment and direction will remind you of his previous Sherlock Holmes blockbuster series and has a similar fast paced plot with every element boosted to maximum level. I especially enjoyed the scenes which are arranged in very choppy and irregular edits to take the story forward interestingly without disturbing the pace of the film. Don’t worry, not all scenes are choppy, movie does calms down with right focus as and when required. Guy Ritchie’s command and skill to know when to increase the pace and when to slow it down is praiseworthy and does enhance the overall experience.  His direction and screenplay with Joby Harold are the actual hero of ‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’ and deserve full marks.

There is abundance of action sequences, which are placed suitably throughout the storyline. After a long while I have seen some good refreshing ‘Prince of Persia’ style chase sequences. Enchanted sword fight sequences also create a whole other video game feel and dimension on screen.

This film has a lot more magic then the actual folklore, which aided by the modern-day CGI makes it a wondrous sight. The war sequence in the beginning with gigantic elephants is an immense never seen before experience and will set your mood right for the next 126 minutes. Again, I will praise the plot that creates room for innovation and creativity which is evident in the form of impressive CGIs.

Now let’s get to the negatives that stop this film from becoming the next Sherlock Holmes sort of classic. Principal cast lacks charisma, apart from Jude Law who is at his usual best and Eric Bana who doesn’t have significant role, rest of the cast is forgetful. In a typical good vs. evil drama like this, both hero and villain needs to be at par. When evil is as strong as Jude law’s portrayal of Vortigren than Charlie Hunnam’s performance as Arthur, comes out very amateurish and does hurt the required on-screen rivalry. Wish we had a stronger Protagonist, which could have easily elevated the experience.  

Here I would like to mention David Beckham's cameo. It was very exciting , at first I was like this guy amazingly resembles the star footballer but soon realized its actually him. This was a very smart move from Guy Richie as fun elements like these do keep viewer connected to the film in some form. 
Apart from the deficiency of acting talent film could have also used slightly brighter visuals, the greyish blue look of the movie does get irritating at times and one starts to long for the usual RGB colors on screen.

Overall Innovative form of storytelling enhanced through imaginative CGI and well-choreographed action sequences manages to cover most of the negative points. Guy Ritchie has created another prime cinematic experience that deserves a cinema audience. I go with 3 stars.