King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword Review - Snatch Meets Shakespeare

Certificate – 12A
Directed by – Guy Ritchie
Starring – Charlie Hunnam; Jude Law; Astrid Berges – Frisbey; Djimon Hounsou; Aidan Gillen; Eric Bana.
Running Time – 126 minutes (2 hours 6 minutes)

★★★½

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King Arthur: Legend of the Sword will be studied by film students for years to come to figure out what exactly went wrong, but the odd thing is this is a really good, enjoyable film.

When the child Arthur’s father is murdered, Arthur’s uncle, Vortigern (Law), seizes the crown. Robbed of his birthright and with no idea who truly is, Arthur (Hunnam) comes up the hard way in the back alleys of the city. But once he pulls the sword from stone, his life is turned upside down and he is forced to acknowledge his true legacy.

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This is very much a Guy Ritchie way to retell this classic story mixing elements of Snatch and Lock, Stock whilst embedding Macbeth and Hamlet to which enhanced the story.

Ritchie does a good job directing and does brilliantly when it comes to large-scale action and fight scenes. However, there were a few choices he made like the go-pro esque shaky cam does take you out of the film.

This is no fault of his own because he does a decent job as the Arthur, but Hunnam isn’t a leading man of a major $100 million property, yet.

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I enjoyed the team dynamic and the banter between our heroes and this is when Ritchie’s Snatch style comes fantastic into the film and adds the humour.

Meanwhile, Law really plays up to the villain a lot and is basically an eviler version of Scar from The Lion King with elements of Macbeth thrown in.

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I can’t talk about the acting and not mention David Beckham’s utterly awful cameo. From the cocky accent to the delivery it made the critics in the screening laugh. SO PLEASE NO MORE BECKHAM IN YOUR FILMS GUY!!!

For the most part, the film’s editing is a mess, the pacing is all over the place and I didn’t know what was happening. Furthermore, the CGI looked cheap and very TV.

King Arthur does this incredible thing of being too long, yet not long enough to explain everything, so I would see longer directors cut.

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However, despite the film's issues, it’s also a hell a lot of fun and I had a great time and would’ve liked to have seen a sequel.

Verdict

Despite its flaws, this King Arthur retelling mixes Snatch with Shakespeare while being fun and enjoyable.