Year of release: 2004
Run time: 2 hr. 22 mins. | Rated: PG-13 | Genre: Action / Adventure | Language: English

A demystified take on the tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Table of Contents
Synopsis
In this interpretation of the classic tale, King Arthur (Clive Owen) is a cavalry officer in the Roman army defending Hadrian’s Wall against rebellious Britons. He and his troops are expecting to be relieved but are instead sent on a risky mission to rescue the Roman family of Marius Honorius, who proves a despicable torturer of pagans. Arthur frees one of them, Guinevere (Keira Knightley), who in turn brokers a truce between Arthur and the Britons so as to ward off an invading Saxon army.
Introduction
Aside from the classic cartoon The Sword in the Stone (1963), this was by far my personal favorite King Arthur adaptation film. I guess because it’s like a video game wherein they have certain character types and it reminds me of Dungeons & Dragons. Directed by Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer Trilogy, Southpaw 2015 & Olympus Has Fallen 2013).
Now I’m not a scholar of the Arthurian legend and am in no position to claim myself as an expert. I’m merely a fan of historical legends. This, as I’ve read was a retelling of sorts of the said legend, and as some critics have hated it, I myself loved it.
Characters
- Stellar cast and everyone had their work cut out for them. This is by far the best iteration of Lancelot (played by Ioan Gruffudd), he’s a badass in wielding dual swords, which is one of my favorite weapon class in games.
- Bors’ (played by Ray Winstone) character looked like a barbarian build but he’s wielding dual curved blades, much like those assassin classes in Ragnarok Online. His character seemed like an axe guy, but nonetheless, amazing work.
- Guinevere (played by Keira Knightley) was a sight for sore eyes, great performance from her, though character-wise, it was kind of weird seeing Guinevere as such and not some damsel-in-distress (like in The First Knight) or a medieval queen we’ve all known her to be.
- King Arthur (played by Clive Owen) was the leader, and man did he lead. Owen played this character so well to the point that whenever someone mentions King Arthur, I’d immediately connect the name to Owen’s character. Great performance from him as always.
- Tristan (played by Mads Mikkelsen) seemed almost like Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. He uses a scimitar and a short bow, both of which fits him well.
Music
The score was majestic and grand, very fitting for a legendary character such as King Arthur. The music was composed by none other than Hans Zimmer (Interstellar 2014, Gladiator 2000, and The Lion King 1994)
The one thing I didn’t like
Probably was seeing Keira Knightly appearing as such. I would’ve preferred to see her be the woman she could’ve been. But then again, to each their own. Its not a deal breaker though, she still performed in such a high caliber.
Conclusion
King Arthur is probably one of the best historical epics in my book, together with Gladiator, The Last Samurai, and Troy. The music carried this film and couple that with the perfect acting of the ensemble and you get an epic in historical proportions. Highly recommended.

Cast:
Clive Owen as Arthur
Ioan Gruffudd as Lancelot
Mads Mikkelsen as Tristan
Joel Edgerton as Gawain
Hugh Dancy as Galahad
Ray Winstone as Bors
Keira Knightley as Guinevere
Ray Stevenson as Dagonet
Stephen Dillane as Merlin
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Written by: David Franzoni
Music by: Hans Zimmer
Produced by:ย Jerry Bruckheimer, Ned Dowd & Chad Oman
Cinematography by: Slawomir Idziak
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