King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

A great fantasy blast that honors the Arthurian legend, but at the same time does absolutely whatever it wants with it. It adds monsters, it shows Arthur as a gangster from London (Londinia, in fact), thanks to Ritchie's direction and Pemberton's great music, it's extremely polished and stylish, and thanks to the actors it's likeable as hell... And above all, it is also quite funny, which the trailers unfortunately concealed, God knows why. Don't say you expected an ordinary film from Guy Ritchie. (2017-05-15)

I have to give it to Guy Ritchie – his movies have style. Whatever he films ends up fantastic. But I can’t shake the feeling that some of the scenes tend to go over the top. The beginning was amazing. The very first scene was gripping, it tells Arthur’s story since early childhood until the age where the rest of the story begins. It’s original, quick, entertaining… for about an hour. Then the ideas thin out and the whole thing gets repetitive. That’s when it loses its magic and becomes a classic Guy Ritchie movie. I can’t say he’s not being inventive, but my initial excitement has quickly grown cold. And even though I admire the effort to shoot a King Arthur fantasy from a different angle, I still couldn’t piece the story together and all I could do was to watch some CGI hocus pocus. (2018-08-02)

Ritchie’s Arthur isn’t flawless, but it certainly doesn’t lack confidence. The genre mix of British gangster movie with fantasy adventure works, dripping with originality. The storytelling is like drunken bragging at the pub, about what if and isn’t always linear. Time slips by as required. Hunnam is good, plays his part, but Jude Law in true papal style rules with an iron fist in this movie. Not everybody will be keen on this modern approach, but this is the way ahead, and it must be trampled down a little more. Magic at work. Convincing effects. Pemberton’s music is just fantastic, a great soundtrack. (2017-05-11)

My Lord in heaven! A dark fantasy in a ball-busting visual barrage, where everything is so horribly over the top that I fully understand the viewers who sent it down the drain. This film takes all sorts of genre motifs and glues them onto a gritty story with the amount of gusto the director last had seventeen years ago. I was still a little hesitant at the intro with the gigantic elephants, but then in a brilliant cut Arthur grows up and I knew it was home run. This was because we got Ritchie's beloved staircase run with Pemberton's punchy underscore, and it doesn't lag during the special effects orgy when everyone knew they could break free from their chains, including the actors. Jude Law plays the villain in the same style as in The Young Pope, and it's an absolutely decadent blockbuster. And Charlie Hunnam? Even in Pacific Rim, I thought he had suspicious charisma for a sweet 20-something girl idol, and here he's taking advantage of it in the best possible way. I was pretty hesitant about going to the movie theater because the trailer campaign was very bland, but seeing that with a budget of 175 million, it has grossed (2 months after the premiere) about 145 million worldwide, it's clear to me that someone at Warner had cardinally screwed up. The best fantasy since The Lord of the Rings. (2017-07-22)

A properly physical experience with all of Guy Ritchie's trademarks. Wild conversations at an uncatchable cadence, London ever-present, even our buddy David Beckham doesn't go missing. However, until the very end, I couldn't decide whether such likable wildernesses are somewhat harmed by the fact that they are crammed into a classic story that occasionally meets traditional elements very carelessly, occasionally boldly and imaginatively, but sometimes just inevitably classically. This is most prominently evident in the direct comparison between Arthur, who runs his mouth in Charlie Hunnam's confident performance, never far from a wisecrack and grumbling about his fate rather frequently, and Vortigern, an archetypal fantasy villain with a desire for power. However, I am very happy with King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, because it handles my favorite material in its own way and with knightly honor reaches an ending from which an excellent saga could continue in some alternative universe. We are left with at least an honest and courageous flash. (2017-07-30)