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This article contains spoilers for King Arthur. Personally this movie was not my favorite, but to be as unbiased as possible, these are the best/worst elements of the film to me.
Arthur’s contact with the sword
As most people know from the original story, the sword can only be pulled from the stone by the son of Uther and rightful king, that man being Arthur (Charlie Hunnam). However, in the film the sword is more than an item bestowed upon the future king, but a source of power for him. When Arthur makes contact with the sword the first few times, he passes out after having to relive his dad’s death while feeling the power in the sword. Instead of just being a sword, it is something that connects him to his roots and makes him realize his true potential, almost becoming a replacement for Merlin who is not present in the film. As the movie goes on, Arthur becomes more in touch with the sword and eventually wields it in a beautiful fashion, which gives way to awesome fight scenes where the audience gets to see Arthur’s true potential.
Arthur’s Backstory
In the traditional story, Arthur was taken by Merlin moments after Igraine gave birth to him, and was given to Sir Hector who raised him as his own with his son Kay. However, in the movie Arthur was a young boy when he was found by prostitutes after watching his father get killed in front of him. These women raised him in a brothel where instead of a brother he had 3 best friends, Wet Stick (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Back Lack (Neil Maskell) and Goose Fat (Aidan Gillen) who aided him throughout the movie. Although this strays from his origin, I believe that giving him this backstory makes it so Arthur has more to fight for. It gives him a real connection to these people who raised him into the man he became, and that makes for a much better story and hero than a man who was raised by a knight. It also gives him motivation when they are victimized or taken away from him to fight back, helping him become better at wielding the sword. It also gives him a great reason to fight valiantly against his uncle when he says, “you created me,” since essentially killing his dad made it so Arthur was an orphan found by his caring yet poor and unconventional adoptive family, making him a stronger man than he would be if he lived a life stuck in the castle.
Effects
There were plenty of special effects that made the movie more entertaining while improving the storyline. For some reason there was only one mage (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey) in the movie even though it was mentioned that there were more, but her ability made it so that she could control animals. Whenever she did this her eyes would change shape to the eyes of the animal she would control, and the use of animals allowed them to get out of tight spots while having an awesome looking snake or hawk kill people for them. Other creatures who were created with CGI were Lady of the Lake (Jacqui Ainsley) who did a beautiful job at helping Arthur realize the world he had to save while returning the sword to him, and a Syren (Lorraine Bruce) who was the complete opposite with hideous black tentacles who lurked in the king’s tower. During Arthur’s fight scenes, effects such as a mixture of slow and fast motion were used to show how talented he was with the sword, killing dozens of people in a matter of moments, while slicing their swords in half by himself.
The lack of Merlin
In the stories Merlin is a huge part of Arthur’s rise to king, since he is the one who is supposed to create the sword in the stone for Arthur, to show his parentage in front of Britain so they can accept him and help him realize his true potential by being his advisor. However, he is not present at all in the movie, although he is mentioned as being the one who told Sir Bedivere (Djimon Hounsou) to save Arthur from being killed by Vortigern (Jude Law). It was very disappointing to not see Merlin since he is supposed to be such an important character in Arthur’s life, and would be an interesting character to see in the movie since he is a magician and effects could have been used to show off his powers and strength.
Difference in Storyline
Instead of being a horrible person who makes Merlin help a woman fall in love with him and have his child, Uther is a decent man who doesn’t make a deal with Merlin to take his child. While I understand the choice they made so that they would make his brother out to be the sole villain, giving Arthur more of an incentive to kill him, I feel like it is very important to show that he himself wasn’t the best king so that Arthur is truly the king they have needed for generations. Also, Instead of dying in battle soon after his son Arthur was taken away by Merlin, Uther dies after his brother, Vortigern, fights him with the strength he obtained from sacrificing his wife to the syren (he has some serious issues). It is after this that Arthur floats away on a boat, and is found by women who raise him in a brothel, rather than being raised by Sir Hector. I agree with this choice since dying in battle is anticlimactic, while this death affected Arthur throughout the movie, making it so that he finally reaches his true potential when he accepts watching his father get murdered in front of him. In the story, Merlin created the stone and made it so that only Uther’s son could take out the sword. However, in the film Uther becomes the stone when he throws the sword in his back before dying. While I understand this choice since it shows how a king is supposed to connect with his sword and the land, it doesn’t make sense since the sword doesn’t have the power to turn anyone to stone and no one told him that that would happen.
Subpar Acting
The acting in this movie was not the best. Arthur had the biggest character arc which isn’t saying much, and I didn’t care about most of the characters by the end of the movie. The only moments I can recall that I actually felt something for the characters was for the dad before he died, and when Blue walked in on his father getting questioned by Vortigern. Also, while I liked the friendship between Arthur and his companions, I did not feel any chemistry between him and the rebels at any point in the movie. I feel like as the movie went on their relationship could have been less forced.
I think I would need to watch the movie again to get everything out of it since there was a lot of important dialogue involved, but I thought it was a decent movie. It wasn’t horrible since the plot was interesting throughout, special effects were used to enhance it, and lighting and costumes were well designed. However, if the acting, lack of Merlin, and connection between Arthur and the rebels improved, I think it could have been much better and easier to watch.
Rating 2.5/5
By: Danielle Gonzalez
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