a modern take on a loose interpretation - ***

Intended to be a 6 part movie series by Warner Bros, this 2017 fantasy film loosely based on the King Arthur legends spent $175million in production cost and only getting box office returns at $55.2 million.  It started filming in February of 2015 and was intended to be released in July of 2016.  The release has been postponed several times until it finally opened in May this year.

Jealous of his brother's power as king of the Britons , Vortigem (Jude Law) orchestrates a coup and summons a demon knight to kill his brother King Uther Pendragon (Eric Bana) by sacrificing his own wife to the sea witches.  The King senses the plot and tries to flee his family to safety.  His infant son Arthur escapes by boat , his wife is killed by the demon knight and the king plunges in himself the excalibur and turning himself into stone to prevent Vortigem from acquiring the sword.  As destiny would will it,  Arthur comes back a grown man, reluctantly claims the sword and must accept his fate as the new king of the Britons.

Charlie Hunnam made quite an impression on me when I saw him on Pacific Rim. And I really said I will watch out for his next big film and this film was the next one that came along.  His King Arthur started out as someone from the streets trying to earn a living for himself and his foster mother and later would develop into somebody more concerned with the fate of the land and accepting a bigger responsibility.  Charlie is just part of an interesting set of cast members which include some very good uknowns along with popular ones like Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou, Aidan Gillen and Eric Bana.  They have truly done their part as actors and have come together to make it an ensemble act to help further the story.

The director Guy Ritchie has his trademark firmly imprinted in every scene of this film.  If you have seen Sherlock Holmes you will notice how he is fond of some quick cuts to the next scene to demonstrate urgency and push the pace of the story.  Some of his shots and editing style were very expressive and gets the audience to feel what the characters are feeling. It helps generate excitement on a setting that  looks drabby and dark.

I was a little disappointed that the story is not really the classic tale of King Arthur but more of an artists interpretation of how he rose to power.  It is a loose interpretation that acquired too much artistic freedom breaking our own idea of what King Arthur should be like, others would use the word iconoclastic.  I had hope to see the classic story told in a modern way but it went all modern in style and somehow it did not gell very well together.