Three stars. Rated PG-13, for fantasy action and violence, and brief profanity
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 5.12.17
British director Guy Ritchie has
spent the last decade putting his breakneck, heavily stylized spin on
pop-culture icons, with diminishing results.
His two takes on Sherlock Holmes
were mostly fun, thanks to the sassy pairing of Robert Downey Jr. (Holmes) and
Jude Law (Watson); the re-boot of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ... less so.
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| The mysterious Mage (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey) watches as Arthur (Charlie Hunnam) contemplates the powerful sword Excalibur, which unleashes ghastly memories every time he places both hands on its hilt. |
Which brings us to this
re-imagined Arthur Pendragon, Camelot and Excalibur: pretty much the only
elements of traditional Arthurian legend that have survived in this
senses-assaulting treatment by Ritchie and co-scripters David Dobkin, Joby
Harold and Lionel Wigram. Their medieval adventure kicks off with a reasonably
compelling first act, as the saga’s major players are introduced, but soon goes
off the rails and ultimately succumbs to wretched excess during the overwrought
finale.
This is King Arthur by way of Lord of the Rings: a magic-laden fantasy
that ultimately overpowers its puny mortal characters. When opponents can send
mountain-size elephants and coliseum-size serpents against each other, it’s
impossible to establish an emotional connection with anything or anybody;
Ritchie and his fellow scribes don’t exercise enough care to give us reasonable
rules or consistency.
It’s all stuff and nonsense ...
and, in Ritchie’s hands, hyper-accelerated and very loud stuff and nonsense.
The film opens with an explosive
prologue, the malevolent wizard Mordred having lain waste to nearly all of
England. Only well-fortified Camelot remains, but 300-foot siege elephants are
poised to make short work of its walls. It’s an awesome sequence, orchestrated
with breathtaking verisimilitude by visual effects supervisor Nick Davis, and
ferociously paced by Ritchie and editor James Herbert.
All seems lost, but wait! The
honorable King Uther Pendragon (Eric Bana) wields the mighty sword Excalibur,
which instantaneously turns the tide. (Handy, that.)
Alas, in the aftermath, Uther
fails to perceive the perfidy within; his brother Vortigern (Jude Law),
secretly coveting the crown, unleashes his own vile magic. (Really, you’d think
that Uther would have known that a brother given the name Vortigern couldn’t be
anything but evil.)
The king and his wife perish, but
not before sending their young son Arthur to safety in a boat: an oft-employed
plot point that dates from Moses to Luke Skywalker, by way of Krypton’s Kal-El.
