King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

The go-to studio logic of the day seems to go as follows. Find a property that's either public domain or already purchased by your studio. Create an origin story for a shared universe. Throw at least $100 million at it to make it look shiny....And then act really surprised when the resulting movie bombs with critics and with audiences. Today's victim of said treatment is King Arthur and the legend of Camelot in Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

The movie opens with siege of Camelot by Mordred, a powerful sorcerer. Though the good king Uther Pendragon wins the day, there's more evil afoot. His brother Vortigen is about to make a devil's bargain to usurp his brother and take the throne. But there is hope. Uther's son Arthur survived Vortigen's attack and could wield the kingdoms greatest weapon: Excalibur...if he accepts his destiny.

Legend of the Sword is the epitome of a movie that would be better if it was twenty times worse, and thus more bonkers fun, or played to the directors strengths. Instead we've got a movie that has no real idea of what it wants to be.

On one level we've got a Guy Ritchie action comedy with Charlie Hunnam's Arthur operating as a local gangster and brothel owner, who unknowingly runs afoul of Vortigen's military and subsequently outs his lineage. And this stuff...works surprisingly well. We've got a bunch of locals with funny names like we did in Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrells. A lot of street justice, jump cuts, and cons. It's all the best Ritchie hoodlum stuff.

But then the movie slams into a completely differet tone which is th Arthurian tale of destiny and his refusal to accept his lineage and divine right while coming to grips with his past and oh my god did they make The Lion King but less engaging? Let's see murderous uncle who kills off the dad using a shady deal. Check. Kid goes into exile where he lives an entirely different life and ignores his lingering memories and royal destiny? Check. Oh hell we've even got a magical guidance character that forces an intereaction with dearly deceased dad and a spirit quest across dangerous terrain before he climbs a tower to take on his uncle and wow. Subliminal or intentional that lines up waaay too well.

This tonal dissonance works against the movie when it aims for epic set pieces, which Ritchie has never had a feel for. You can feel his comfort level stretch as soon as the combat exbands beyond stylish street brawling. He never knows what to do with the big CGI except mass destruction or some slow-motion panning shots that didn't look good in the Matrix Reloaded and still look weird now. It also doesn't help that Ritchie isn't comfortable with a bright color palette and instead ops for a grey finish on the entire movie. Seriously check out the screen shots in this review, they all look exactly the same.

Sadly there are elements to this that I like if they were developed further. I like how Arthur's band appears to be multi-cultural and his decision to assume power for the sake of the people (i.e. take up the mantle and help your diverse friends because your white lineage of power has the ability to make change). I could even get behind the film's Dynasty Warriors approach to battling. You know where most of the people are cannon fodder but then two or three warriors with supernatural powers show up to wreck everyone's face and can only be taken out by each other. There's appeal to that.

I even like the casting including Jude Law as the villain, the type of role he's always more interesting in, Charlie Hunnam fits well into the hoodlum fun, and Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey makes the most as the Mage.

Sadly none of these fun elements or characters get enough development to make the movie interesting. There's entire threads that are unexplained plot devices. What is the creature that Vortigen is constantly working with? Where's the mythology of Excalibur? Why aren't we talking more about Mordred? Who cares, let's cut back to Arthur not wanting to take up the throne even though it's clear that Voritgen is totalitarian jackass.

Though not unwatchable, Legend of the Sword is too unfocused and unoriginal to truly entertain. Skip this one.