King Arthur

King Arthur.  Knight of the round table.  Apparently not.  He was a Roman.  Interesting take on the tale that.

I watched this film for the second time last night and one the one hand, there isn’t much to say.  It is a perfectly serviceable sword based action film.  The time passed quicker than it would have done had I sat watching a blank wall for 2 hours and so on that basis, it was entertaining.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike the film.  It’s actually really good.  The story is pretty good.  The way it’s done is pretty good.  There are really only two things that detract from it but we’ll start with the positives.

As I said, it’s a pretty good story.  It isn’t really epic, or grand or anything like and it does suffer from the modern delusion that because we are so obsessed with freedom today, everyone throughout all of time must have been too.  The backstory is also pretty good and involving.  Ray Stevenson, reprises his role as big man with stick and once again nails it.  Ray Winstone is fantastic.  Ioan Gruffudd is excellent, as are the other knights of the round table.  It really is pretty good.

So what is the problem them.  Why does my explanation of the positives not drip with joy you ask?  I’ll tell you why.  Clive Owen and Keira Knightly.  Clive is pretty terrible in this.  He just doesn’t seem like he cares.  How Arthur managed to inspire his troops to death and glory with that bored monotone drone, I’ll never guess.  This is one example where the quality of the acting actually detracts from the film as the Arthur that everyone talks about in the film, is not the man we meet in Clive Owen.

Keira Knightly.  She does well but she has a very steep hill to climb to persuade us that she is a Briton Woad savage.  I said to my dad, how surprised I was that a savage such as her had been sent to public school.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t thing she acted badly, it’s just that she isn’t suited to the role and so can’t really convince us that she is who she says she is.

Oh, and why oh why does Stellan Skarsgaard sound so very American in this film when in the other films I’ve seen him in, some where he is playing an American, he sounds like he’s Scandanavian?  What’s going on there?

I can’t rate this film too highly and I can’t rate to low either.  A different actress, a bit more effort from Clive and this would have been a fantastic film I think.  I’m giving 50/100.