About every ten years or so new filmmakers like to remake/reboot/reimagine classic tales, folklore or novels. Typical examples are Tarzan, Robin Hood, and the legend of King Arthur. This year is no exception, with a brand new telling of the King Arthur legend in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. But this time around it’s directed by the always-stylistic Guy Ritchie, mostly known for Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, and the Sherlock Holmes series. Here he brings his unique vision and style, keeping some of the old story in place and working new elements into the legend. It’s full of magic, action and humor and is one incredible fantasy-action flick.
Young Arthur (Charlie Hunnam) runs the back streets of Londinium with his crew, completely unaware of his royal lineage until he draws the sword, Excalibur, from the stone. Instantly confronted by the sword’s influence, Arthur is forced to decide when to become involved with his power within. Throwing in with the resistance lead by Sir Bedivere (Djimon Hounsou) and Goosefat Bill Wilson (Aidan Gillen) he must learn to master the sword, face down his demons, and unite the people to defeat his uncle the tyrant Vortigern (Jude Law) who murdered his parents and stole his crown.
The movie almost feels like Ritchie wanted to make an epic fantasy flick, but couldn’t get the funding. So he slapped the King Arthur IP on it and boom. Because the movie works in two ways: one, as a fantasy flick with monsters, wizards, action; and two, as a reimagining of a story that’s been told time and time again. This has some small elements of the King Arthur legend, but has more akin with a Dungeons and Dragons story than anything else. And that’s what makes it work. It takes that story we know and turns it way upside down, shaking out the good parts and adding many new fantastic elements.
At the helm of our story is Charlie Hunnam playing Arthur, doing his best Tom Hardy and owning this role. He starts off as the man who would not be king, but over time slowly realizes that he must embrace his past and become the king England needs. And when he does, it is cheer-worthy. In this version the sword, Excalibur, was made by Merlin and infused with his magic/life-force. So the sword itself is magic and tied to Arthur. Once he embraces the sword and become one, they are unstoppable, which makes for a very interesting heroes journey.
Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey playes the Mage, sent from Merlin to help Arthur. In this new telling of the story all mages have been sent into exile. So when she returns she brings a whole bunch of magic tricks up her sleeve to help Arthur. Djimon Honsou is delightful as always, such a great actor and a wonderful pick to be Arthur’s right hand man. Aidan Gillen is very enjoyable in the movie, adding some comedy mixed with some badass archery, a great departure from his role as the scheming “Little Finger” on Game of Thrones.
And last but not least is the main antagonist, the dreadful King Vortigern, played by Jude Law. He is vile, cruel and downright horrible. He makes for a great on-screen villain. Selling his soul to some sort of gross tentacle monster, he gains ultimate power using the art of blood sacrifice. His goal is to build this super tall tower that can harness magic energy, thus leading him to be the uber dark mage taking over the world. But to do this he needs to get Arthur out of the way. Easier said than done. From the moment Jude Law oozes on screen your skins crawls and you smack him. An excellent actor to play this role.
Special effects are amazing. In the opening scene there is a massive battle where two giant elephants are wreaking havoc and laying waste to everything in their path. The effect is amazing and looks scary as hell. At one point Arthur has to enter the “dark world”, and in that place are many creatures and amazing effects. This sequence is definitely one of the highlights of the film. Giant monsters of any kind are always fun.
Music plays a huge part in the movie, not unlike Ritchie’s other films. Here we are given the pleasure of award nominated composer Daniel Pemberton. The score is alive and get your blood pumping in the action scenes. And when there’s down time the wind instruments are beautifully played. But when things needs to heat up for plot purposes he brings in some vocals that just add so much to the scene itself. One of the more creative scores I’ve heard in years.
Over all this is a big budget popcorn flick, but a good one. It’s a story we’ve seen before but made completely new and original. Ritchie brings his streetwise filmmaking into a world that isn’t known for that style. Very much like the Sherlock films in that way. It’s big, fun and full of surprises. So far this is one of the better films of 2017.
