I went to see *King Arthur* tonight. (IMDB:0349683) It was a nice movie. The scenery was interesting, if sometimes exagerated (the glacier, the ice). I liked wheather effects like snow and rain. Reminded me a bit of the opening scenes of *Gladiator*. I also liked the Picts, their body paint, their costumes. I also liked the Saxons and Romans, for the same reasons.
Merlin acted a bit too wise; he was not “understandable” – but then again that explaines his later fame. 😉
The best part was how the traditional love triangle was reduced to looks.
The worst part was the wedding ceremony at the end. Why don’t they just cut that stuff out?
And the last battle choreography reminded me a lot of *The Last Samurai* with the use of fire and all that. ¹
The battle choreography was good, with arrow volleys and interesting moves without getting into Asian martial arts. Sometimes it was filmed from below, which was nice.
After some looking around at the Internet Movie Database, I found that *King Arthur* was written by David Franzoni (II), and he did screenplay and story for *Gladiator*. That explains some stuff.
I really liked the Lancelot actor, *Ioan Gruffudd*. He seemed vaguely familiar. On the Internet Movie Database I found it: He played in *Warriors* ² and *Black Hawk Down*.
There a very interesting German article about the movie on TelePolis:
Alle zehn Jahre also eine Artus-Sage im Kino. Robert Bressons [...] EXCALIBUR [...] FIRST KNIGHT [...] Der neueste “Arthur” ist nun wieder politischer, ein sehr zeitgemäßer Actionfilm: Die Wildheit, die er an Tag legt, ist tatsächlich nur vorgetäuscht, wirklich mutig ist er genauso wenig, wie filmisch irgendwie innovativ oder interessant. Dabei aber keineswegs dumm, nur bewusst naiv. Man sieht ihn gern, die Action ist kurzweilig, die Kamera von Slavomir Idziak großartig. Hans Zimmers immergleiche Musik kann man allerdings nicht mehr hören. Und was Fuqua offenbar umtreibt: viel Gewalt und reine Männerwelten. Die Frauen spielen nur am Rand eine Rolle. Keira Knightley darf als Guinevere immerhin sexy Bogenschützin sein und viele Schurken töten, Im entscheidenden Moment aber muss sie doch von Lancelot gerettet werden. Umgekehrt wär’s besser gewesen. ³
#Movies #Arthurian Romance