King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
Raised on the streets. Born to be king.
Let’s get some magic up in this house. I’m taking off or a little break from the state and going somewhere magical, so it only makes sense to prep it with magic that’s more my speed - yeah, that’s right, swords and sorcery style hombre! This is one that I just haven’t gotten around to - maybe it was the advertising, maybe i was just being slow and lazy - never can tell. Tell you what, we’ll fix that right up tonight in a hurry - dust off your old Arthurian books, this time we take a break neck check with King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.
Everyone knows the story of King Arthur right? Seems like it’d be pretty basic know-how to me in this day and age. If you aren’t familiar, that’s fine since it is a little bit different. One could argue that along the tag line for the movie it’s more “street” - but it’s almost more like a music video take on Arthur, starting with his old man getting traitor-ed by his uncle - and ending with his ascent to the throne. There’s magic, there’s battle, and of course there’s some sweet old costumes to match - but we’ll get into that later. This one is told a bit more break your spine with some of the scene exchanges - and that could be a problem if your mental motor is only chugging at 4 miles an hour when the movie is blazing about at a solid 60. I didn’t have any problems personally, and I find it was actually pretty fun way to condense a bunch of information and scenes down into a much less chuggy sort of time - but that doesn’t stop me from recognizing some people are going to get caught up on it.
Alright, so let’s go check on the actors shall we? Well, they aren’t bad - I mean, for the most part you won’t really find any huge names here, and a line might be a little dry here or there but it’s really not bad. Yes, there is something to say for the draw of star power - people will flock to a movie regardless of how good it is if it’s got a big name attached that they like - and that might attribute to how poorly the movie did in theaters (along with that focused ADD-laced story telling I mentioned before). The mage character might feel a little fresh to the acting thing - but I’d argue it works for the character since she’s supposed to seem foreign and odd, and it really doesn’t feel unfitting in that sense. Given the street-side of things, there’s also a lot of that sort of aloof British feel about a good few of the characters as well.
The characters themselves aren’t horribly done either. It’s much more thieves and gangs than some might want from a tale about a boy that becomes king - but it also ends up feeling fresh and a bit more exciting because of it. You’ll find yourself endeared to a few of the characters, probably not care for a few, and in all the right ways it feels like a well done thing as far as the lead’s character development. He’s very much given the time to show a good heart, even after being raised by a brothel and pretty much running a little gang. It’s a bit of a step removed from the normal tale of King Arthur, but I don’t think most would be too insulted by it - at least from a watch-ability standpoint.
Hold the line!
Audio here is great. I mean, yes, there is that thing where after the watch buddy had mentioned there’s a lot of “breathing in the soundtrack” I couldn’t un-hear it. That aside, effects audio is good, with plenty of clang and swoosh as needed. Audio delivery from actor lines is quite well done as well - most will have plenty of inflection as needed. You also won’t have any problem hearing things as far as the balance goes. The background music is actually quite good in my opinion with plenty of mix of strings and the likes. It’s fitting music that helps in the classical movie sense of amping up the mood - but it’s also something I could see myself throwing on in the background while I’m doing other things.
Effects are well done too. Yes, some might find a few of the super-climactic scenes a bit video-gamey, but they don’t look bad at all in my opinion - but one should remember, I’ve seen some things in movies. There’s plenty of casual effects in there, like adding a bit of glow to a sword - but they also have a few scenes that are super heavy visually - with a blasting fog and dust, with slow motion and shattering blades. Look, it’s cool alright? Listening to someone who hasn’t seen as much as me watching it and having an absolute ball tells me it’s not only me that was enjoying it. Costumes, which fall into this department in my mind as well, are also pretty sweet. There could have been much more full plate in my personal opinion, but the embracing of the fantasy element really did lead to some gnarly looking folks - and the beast-mode evil guy is straight up out of a Metal album.
Fight choreography is well done as well, just in case you were wondering. Although yes, the slow motion scenes are the biggest stand out because it’s nice and easy moving for the eyes, the normal speed stuff is pretty good as well. I’ll be real - if you are looking for authentic real-world style combat, you might not be as impressed with some of the sweet dodge rolls or dramatic whirls - but from a movie standpoint it all looks darn cool and that’s all I’m asking from it. There’s a place for real world combat in a grounded real world style movie, but when we embrace the elements of fantasy I’m totally cool with style over logic. Even the final battle, which most assuredly contains a lot of computer aided elements looks good with the flow and movement of the characters. This sort of also plays out with the method of story telling going on, where the pacing is fast, but as long as you can mentally keep up with it it’s actually quite clear whats going on.
Totally metal.
In the end, there’s no reason this movie shouldn’t have made its money back and that makes me kind of sad. Yes, it’s paced quick - but it’s also an interesting twist on how to show a story instead of solid lengthy flashbacks and the like. The action is groovy - and that’s what I was hoping for more than anything else - and the costume and effects aren’t far behind. I wouldn’t go into it as a purist expecting accuracy and upholding a gritty realist setting - and if you don’t you should have a blast. It’s fun, and I’d check it out - heck, I might even try adding this to my collection at some point, because I could see myself coming back to check it out again sometime.