Never Too Street To Be A King

Guy Ritchie's always a director with a distinct style. His films is always stylish and modern, even his Victorian Sherlock Holmes films. It's a bit intriguing what he's going to do with the Camelot lore and boy, he delivered it. Honestly, the film trailers didn't interest me. But it looks solid even though it is lacking recognizable actors apart from Jude Law, Charlie Hunnam and Eric Bana.

The story established that Camelot is full with magic and giant creatures. If you've accepted this, then you'll have a good time. Even I immediately went skeptical when seeing those Lord of the Rings Oliphant within 2 minutes of the film. In this film, Arthur was dumped to the streets, raised there, and has to accept his destiny as the true King, not his uncle Vortigen who embraces the dark magic and sorcery to gain power. Yes, the story is a bit Lion King, and on paper this film should be a massive bore. But enter Guy Ritchie.

The film owes its energy to Guy Ritchie's superb style and Daniel Pemberton's unique score. The Snatch story-telling technique works here to trim duration and boredom that arise from traditional storytelling. And honestly, it turns the boo-hoo scenes into great sequence (the Darklands parts) or electric montage (that beginning!) The film also owes itself to a committed cast found in Charlie Hunnam who bulked up and delivers as King Arthur, Jude Law who chews scenery (in a good way) like that giant snake chews people (this is a good spoiler so you know what to expect--I didn't) and the underused but super likable supporting cast such as Djimon Hounsou, Aidan Gillen, those two Arthur buddies and his kid. Daniel Pemberton's score deserves a mention because it's different. Sometimes it's your typical Zimmer Inception booms, but when it's not the sound is unique, some I bet are experimental using actual whistles and breathings. The parts that bothers me the most is when they decide to go overboard with the CGI such as in the final boss battle and the mighty sword sequences. It's almost like Warner Bros decide to get a super high Zack Snyder to direct them. And in my opinion, the sword's power is annoyingly too powerful, it's like a cheat mode in video games. I hate that this film is flopping and it's getting the hate reviews it does not deserve. But for some reason, I am relieved that it won't be turned into a franchise machine because I think it wouldn't work (the sword powers is one of the reasons it wouldn't work). But on the other hand, I hate that this film is less successful than that other budding WB franchise (read: Kong vs Godzilla franchise). Do watch this in the biggest screen possible or watch this cautiously if you can't accept that Guy Ritchie is doing a medieval film. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword: rated 3.5/4


Fun fact: this is my favorite summer movie so far this year. Will probably watch this in 4D Cinema, because I think that is why that video game-like sequences exist in this film.