King Arthur: Legend of the Sword – SPOILER-FREE Review
Directed by: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Djimon Hounsou, Aidan Gillen, Jude Law, Eric Bana
Runtime: 126 min
Guy Ritchie picks up the story of the Excalibur myth and brings it once again to the big screen. For the ones who don’t know this classic tale, it’s about Arthur (Charlie Hunnam), the son of the King Uther Pendragon (Eric Bana) who loses his throne to his brother Vortigern (Jude Law) when the latter decides to usurp it.
Arthur is forced to run away as a child and grows up in the streets with no knowledge of who he is. When he picks up the famous sword wielded by his father from the stone, everything changes and he has to accept his fate … Whether he desires it or not.
I have been pretty late on my reviews so when I went to check how the ratings were for this film, I was pretty disappointed because I thought it would actually be a great movie. Since I usually tend to agree with most critics on whether a film is “good”, “mixed” or “bad”, my expectations going into the theater weren’t high … Maybe because of that, I really enjoyed King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and I’m completely on the other side of the critics’ general opinions.
The first act might actually be my favorite. The intro is visually stunning, action-packed, filmed almost seamlessly and the initial story (the one that almost everyone knows) is told in a unique and fast-paced way, a well-known feature of Guy Ritchie‘s direction techniques.
The story becomes captivating as we go along without ever feeling boring or dragged. The humor used throughout the runtime is a welcome addition to the remake as well as the amount of magic that didn’t exist that much on the previous film. The soundtrack feels surprisingly addictive (it’s very loud and it has a strong beat) which elevated the action scenes to an entertaining level (since these are probably my main issue with the movie).
The whole cast does a great job, but I have to praise Charlie Hunnam‘s work. He’s been under several bad reviews from some critics and even though he’s not the greatest actor ever, he’s still really, really good overall and in this film, he’s absolutely great! Jude Law is also a great over-the-top antagonist and Astrid Bergès-Frisbey (The Mage) is such an amazing surprise, she’s really fantastic.
As for flaws, this movie isn’t near perfection whatsoever in the technical subjects. The action scenes, which are supposed to be one of the main sources of entertainment, are incredibly choppy and the CGI used overpowers the few choreographed sequences, especially the last one that looks more like a video game.
The editing isn’t as smooth as it should have been which didn’t help the storytelling’s transitions. Despite Guy Ritchie‘s decisions regarding the main plot being mostly fine, there’s one that I still can’t understand after thinking a lot about it: there’s one part of the film that he basically “skips” due to his storytelling’s techniques that could have been the most awesome action-packed moment of the entire runtime. With some adjustments here and there, I’m sure that this huge scene had space to shine in this film without extending it too much.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword deserves way more than what the critics are rating. The action scenes are underwhelmed by the excessive use of CGI and the choppy editing (which is also present throughout the rest of the movie), and some of Ritchie‘s decisions regarding the main plot are questionable. However, a powerful, action-packed first act with some beautiful visuals and uniquely fast storytelling (characteristic of Guy Ritchie portfolio of techniques), plus an addictive score and some excellent performances from Charlie Hunnam and Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, turn this film into a great entertainment.
Rating
