King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword * *

Well we all know the story of King Arthur and Camelot and all that don’t we?  So really it’s just a case of how you tell it.  

However, with this telling of the story you might be wondering if you know the legend of King Arthur at all!

"Look what I found stuck in a stone."

It’s good that director Guy Ritchie has made changes to the story and given us another scenario, but unfortunately this is a bit of a mess.  The narrative is more like the telling of Moses liberating the Israelites.

The opening scenes are extreme fantasy as Arthur's father Uther Pendragon defends Camelot against invaders that have elephants as big as battleships. They are so big they carry forts on their back which are full of hundreds of soldiers. Camelot falls and Uther Pendragon's evil brother takes over the kingdom. But the child Arthur is spirited away and sent floating down the river rather like the child Moses, only to be found by women who work in a London brothel.

With "Arfur" being raised in a London brothel and hanging out with the lads it becomes sort of like a medieval “Lock Stock and…”  If it had stayed on that trend it might have been alright and a bit of fun.

But when he becomes an adult Arthur is told (again like Moses) that he has a job to do and he must liberate his people.  Arthur is a reluctant hero. Taken from the brothel by a bunch of believers they have to persuade him that he is the rightful King and must reclaim Camelot.
Oh we've got a magic woman, and an island full of wild creatures to test him, and we've got an Asian martial arts expert as part of the gang, along with lots of other unlikely situations; some of which are amusing and some of which are just irritatingly stupid.

But then it gets all pompous like Lord Of The Rings with extreme CGI of crumbling walls and towers and millions of soldiers as the occupied Camelot resists the takeover by Arthur and his mates.

This cost squillions to make and you can believe it, but these days it seems the more they spend the worse the outcome.