Individual Entry

King Arthur (director's cut) ***

USA/UK/Ireland: Antoine Fuqua, 2004

Jerry Bruckheimer tries to cash in on the success of Gladiator with an interesting but inconsistently executed idea: to create a semi-realistic portrayal of the legend of King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table. Realistic in a manner of speaking, of course, for a number of decidedly anachronistic elements conspire to make it no more believable than the traditional airy-fairy spellcasting versions. Keira Knightley is miscast as Guinivere (although she does her best with the material), and it doesn't help that the character is written as a pouting action woman who embodies decidedly 20th century notions of feminism. Elsewhere Clive Owen is as wooden as a plank in the role of Arthur and the script, while well-intentioned, can't stop itself from providing the characters with some of the most spurious dialogue this side of Sunset Beach, as well as one of the silliest codas in movie history. Still, Slawomir Izdiak (of Three Colours: Blue and Black Hawk Down fame) provides exquisite photography, Stellan Skarsgård turns in a layered performance as the villanous but principled Saxon leader, and Hans Zimmer contributes one of his best action movie scores in years. King Arthur is an enjoyable distraction, and like virtually every Bruckheimer production you should simply switch off your mind and enjoy both the good and the bad.

IMDB reference