According To My Partner Should Have Been Queen Kiera (King Arthur (DVD))

Member Name: JoandLee

Product:	King Arthur (DVD)
Date:	12/03/06 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good Film Easy Watching

Disadvantages: None that spring to my head

This film was one that I fancied being into history etc but wasn't sure that my partner would like it. This changed when he realised that Kiera Knightly was in it.

Jerry Bruckheimer's KING ARTHUR is a quality example of that new breed of mythology adaption.

This is a brave venture by Bruckheimer - and director Fuqua- and they are to be applauded for executing it with such style and creativity as is displayed in this film. It has, however, enjoyed somewhat limited success.

I believe, though, that if the viewer simply opens their mind and attempts to enjoy the story purely for the sake of itself, KING ARTHUR will reveal itself as a truly fine piece of film-making.

More than anything else, Fuqua masterfully portrays the atmosphere of the tale, filling it with a sense of time and place far more brilliant than the run-of-the-mill dialogue.

The entire experience oozes the ambiance of the early common era.

Exemplars of this perfectly-presented atmosphere are Arthur's knights.These are not the chivalrous, couth, pious Christian knights your mum told you about, but rather a troop of barbaric, lecherous, pagan Sarmatian mercenaries. Together they epitomise the pragmatic, godless, exquisitely human atmosphere of the period. As Gawaine tells a cowering Roman friar in an early scene - "Your God doesn't live here".

The lead actors, too, are outstanding, from Stellan Skarsgaard's sociopathic Cerdic, to the delicious Keira Knightley's dark and beautiful Guinevere. Only Clive Owen disappoints as Arthur himself, lacking the emotion this characterisation requires to supplement his steely resolve.

Despite the lukewarm reception to which it was subjected, KING ARTHUR is a finely crafted and memorable item of film-making.

The Cast are:

Clive Owen Arthur
Ioan Gruffudd Lancelot
Mads Mikkelsen Tristan
Joel Edgerton Gawain
Hugh Dancy Galahad
Ray Winstone Bors
Ray Stevenson Dagonet
Keira Knightley Guinevere
Stephen Dillane Merlin
Stellan Skarsgård Cerdic
Til Schweiger Cynric
Sean Gilder Jols
Pat Kinevane Horton
Ivano Marescotti Bishop Germanius
Ken Stott Marius Honorius

A great film just started showing on Sky movies or can be bought from most reputable retailer & ebay with prices starting at £1.50

Give it a go you might even enjoy it.

Summary: A Quality Film With An Awesome British Cast