It’s now official, there is no such thing as a great “King Arthur” film. Sure you can argue that some of the past K.A. films, like “Excalibur” or “First Knight”, were good or watchable, but none of them as “great” as they should have been. I’ve come to the conclusion that the problem may not have been with the films themselves, but the underlying story.
The fantasy and mythical elements of this story are hokey, lame, and just downright stupid. So when they announced that action producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Antoine Fuqua were doing an updated version of Arthur, I was like, ok maybe finally we’ll get that great “King Arthur” flick. Or at the very least the action will be over the top and fun. What happened?
The producers woke up one day and decided that you know what “Excalibur won’t be a magical sword; as a matter of fact wouldn’t it be fun to throw in a scene where a young Arthur pulls the sword, not out of solid rock, but a mound of dirt?”
“Let’s not get into any of the love triangle between Guinevere (Keira Knightley) and our heroes.” And how about this -“We’ll jettison all that overly complicated incest and vengeful sister stuff.” “Lady of the Lake? Bah!!! Let’s further piss fans off and take away Merlin’s magic.”
Heck let’s just get rid of any and all of the goofy fantasy elements of the film. “We’ll market this film as