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film review: King Arthur


Review by Fiona Prior, e: mccommissions@hotmail.com

Director: Antoine Fuqua (Training Day)

First time I cried was when Arturo was a little boy and his village is being raided and his mother is screaming and he sees the sword in the stone and he grasps its handle … not for personal glory or to get the girl but to save his mother’s life.

It was the look on his little face when he realises that he is too late…

Then I cried when the adult Arthur (Clive Owen) had to tell his good and brave Sarmatian knights that Rome had reneged on their 15-years-of military-service-to-freedom contract – knowing he feels the full weight of the responsibility that they will follow him anywhere, and that Rome is no longer a part of their equations. (*This filmic tale is based on the life of half-British/half-Roman officer Lucius Artorius Castus, records from round 452 A.D. - not the usual Medieval saga.) And of course I cried when Arthur begged his God to take his life in lieu of his men if any of them have to die, knowing the impossible odds of this last Roman directive. He knows their force of seven knights is no match for both brutal Saxons and guerrilla Woads (the pagan tribes of Britain), but realises they will surely encounter both before reaching Hadrian’s Wall, and the Roman family entrusted to their care.

Then again when Dagonet (Ray Stevenson) dies. Likewise Lancelot (Ioan Gruffud), and then Tristan (Mads Mikkelsen) – Mads looking more like a feral goth than a round table knight. And even more when Arthur is finally told that the Rome he fights for does not exist; and is full of expensively robed, ambitious bureaucrats and not the 'fathers of democracy' as he had been led to believe.

And then it really poured when Arthur was burying his knights, speaking of their bravery and freedom; as director Fuqua cuts to three beautiful wild stallions galloping across the wilds of Britain, and Arthur releases his friend’s spirits into the keeping of the Gods.

But then I got a bit intrigued by Guinevere (Keira Knightley) who is portrayed as a beautiful young Woad warrior, daughter of Merlin the Magi, mystical leader of the pagan tribes of Britain. Apparently her character is based on Queen Boadicea (click here), a ferocious warrior woman heroine of ancient Britain and a historic character deeply embedded in English folklore. Though preceding this particular Arthurian depiction by round 4 centuries (Boadicea’s battling history round 64 AD) Keira’s fab warrior togs really don’t deserve the bagging they have been receiving by the critics. All the images of I’ve surfed of Queen Boadicea depict her as a chicky babe with a definite taste for chainmail bustiers and bloody battles …


© Chris Achilleos (Other works by Chris Achilleos may be viewed here)

Not a bad film about lost innocence and ideals. You’ll feel  pissed off (maybe I should have cried again) that only Hollywood and ancient legends can get it together to create leaders who insist on round tables because they know that freedom cannot exist without equality, and who embody the sort of personal integrity that expects no man to give what they are not prepared to give themselves.

I almost forgot. I cried when Bor’s (Ray Winstone’s) ‘wife’, baby on hip, sings a ballad about home.

Lots of ideals and Keira looking seriously great as a Woad warrior. What's a few hundred years when it comes to a great fashion statement. The late Coco Channel had a lot to say about the timelessness of  'the classic' ...

King Arthur website: http://kingarthur.movies.go.com/main.html
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