• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • FAQ
  • Meet the Team
  • About The London Economic
  • Advertise
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
NEWSLETTER
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Film

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword – Film Review

RelatedPosts Glasgow Film Festival: What we’ve seen so far Film Review: PVT Chat Film Review: Saint Maud Silver Screen Show: Soul By Linda Marric King Arthur: Legend of the Sword or to give it its full name, “lock stock and a whole load of Arthurian cockney nonsense”, is the latest offering from Guy Ritchie. Directed […]

Kit Power by Kit Power
May 17, 2017
in Film, New Movies, Uncategorised

RelatedPosts

Glasgow Film Festival: What we’ve seen so far

Film Review: PVT Chat

Film Review: Saint Maud

Silver Screen Show: Soul

By Linda Marric

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword or to give it its full name, “lock stock and a whole load of Arthurian cockney nonsense”, is the latest offering from Guy Ritchie. Directed by Ritchie himself and staring Charlie Hunnam, King Arthur is not so much an epic fantasy adventure, but more of a mammoth production of boorish, noisy and not to mention unnecessarily silly going-ons. Despite earlier misgivings, the film opens with a spectacular CGI infused battle which gives you hope that this might not be all bad after all. However. twenty minutes into the film you’ll find yourself wondering, where did the Guy Ritchie of Sherlock Holmes go? And why are we being served more of the same shtick he gave us almost two decades ago?

In what can only be described as an attempt at “cockneyfying” the legend of Excalibur, the film tells the story of an exiled boy king (Oliver Zac Barker, later played by Hunnam) brought up in a Londinium brothel after the death of his father King Uther (Eric Bana) at the hands of the boy’s evil uncle Vortigern (Jude Law). As Vortgern seises the throne aided by dark mystical forces, one thing comes between him and absolute power, he must find Arthur and kill him before it’s too late. To add more mystique to the story, the young exiled king must unearth Excalibur, a magical sword made by a mage named Merlin and given to his father as as a gift. So far so good, however where the story starts to look like a medieval version of some of the worst moments of ‘90s lad culture era, is when Ritchie takes it upon himself to inject some of his usual brand of cockney banter to the proceedings.

Aided by the always brilliant Neil Maskell, and a whole host of the cream of the crop of homegrown talents and international stars, the director turns what could have easily been a brilliantly updated version of the legend of Arthur into something ludicrously brash and not to mention utterly nonsensical. Ritchie, who incidentally co wrote the film with Joby Harold, appears to have made two films in one, the first one being a big noisy superhero origin story which he then melded into a homegrown gangster comedy packed with “hilarious” one liners and annoying jump-cuts. I would be at a miss if I said I wasn’t’ entertained for at least half an hour, and it would be hypocritical to say that I didn’t laugh on several occasions, but the laughs come at the expense of the film rather than with it. As David Beckham’s face, in all its glory, peers at you from the screen the only reaction is the to giggle uncontrollably. However in direct contrast, a cameo from Ritchie himself will infuriate rather than make you guffaw.

On the whole King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword isn’t so much a big international blockbuster, but more of “a local film for local people”, kind of production. News of it not doing so well across the pond won’t matter too much when it opens in the UK, fans of Guy Ritchie will rush to see it, and those who hate him will be curious too.

King Arthur is on general release from Friday 19th May.

Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending fromTLE

  • All
  • trending

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

Stress, fear and homelessness: The threat looming over families confronted with eviction

File photo dated 07/11/03 of a prison cell.

The Other Prison Pandemic

Latest from TLE

Watch – After billions spent on test and trace Sunak says people ‘trust us with their money’

Credit;PA

Doctor appears in court video call for traffic violation while performing surgery

Credit;PA

Lockdown and vaccine sceptics fuming as lockdown and vaccine sceptic journalist gets jab

Credit;PA

What the parable of the 6.2cm journalist teaches us about NHS data

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: jack@thelondoneconomic.com

Commercial enquiries, please contact: advertise@thelondoneconomic.com

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech & Auto
  • About The London Economic
  • Meet the Team
  • Privacy policy

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.