I was pleasantly surprised when King Arthur: Legend of the Sword turned out to be a pretty descent movie. Lots of noise and lots of fuss over a legendary fictional sword that been planted permanently into the ground for decades. The story is a legend we’ve heard before but is always fun to revisit. While this was not the best remake I’ve seen, it was one of the better movies being featured at this time.
Mordred, (Rob Knighton) who is a warlock has an army that he plans to use in order to defeat Camelot, thereby ruling over all of mankind while wielding his magic and power with an iron fist. His plans were foiled only by his beheading thanks to Uther Pendragon, (Eric Bana) thus saving Camelot. But wait, Uther has a ruthless, evil brother, Vortigern (Jude Law) who continues Mordred’s plan of a take over of Camelot, killing Uther and his wife. However, in all the killing and excitement, he overlooks Uther’s baby son who is saved because he was hidden in a small boat and drifted down stream where he was found and raised by prostitutes in Londinium and renamed Arthur.
Arthur, Charlie Hunnam grew up as a commoner of the streets, well known and well liked. He is also quite skilled as a fighter as has 2 best friends, Sir Tristan “Wet Stick” (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and Backlack (Neil Maskell), as well as a mentor who is also a highly skilled fighter, Sir George, (Tom Wu). Of course Arthur has no knowledge of his true lineage and when forced along with other men of his age to try and pull the magic sword from its current resting place, he protested despite successfully retrieving the sword. To help Arthur, who is now in grave danger, is The Mage, (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey) a woman identified as an acolyte who works for Merlin and supports Arthur as well the resistance, which is lead by Sir Bedivere, (Djimon Hounsou) a former knight of Uther’s.
If you’re familiar with the story, you know that the sword holds special powers and ensures that the owner will rule the land but first he must be able to pull the sword from it’s resting place, which no one, until now, has been able to do since the only one who can, is the true royal heir to the throne.
I found this version, directed by Guy Ritchie, to have been exiting and well acted. I was thoroughly entertained and especially loved watching Djimon Hounsou who I’ve always thought of as “eye candy” run around fighting and flexing his muscles. Also, the special effects were spectacular, especially the sea witches who were a mass of several women. If you’re looking for a descent movie, check out King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.
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