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King Arthur- Director's Cut (Region 2 PAL DVD) (2004) review by Billion$Baby Boy am I glad that I waited for dvd before checking this one out! I'd have hated to have seen it before the badly required violence was put back in. Since John Boorman had clearly already made the definitive King Arthur film with his mighty "Excalibur," this film was wise to go for something very different. Basing it's storyline on one historical theory that the legends were based on a real life character called Lucius Artorius Castus and his band of Sarmation troops, from a far earlier era. So forget anything you'd normally expect from a typical King Arthur film despite the occassional, and purely for the sake of it, name drop.
This is a film covering the Romans departure from the UK, the invasion of the Saxons and excitingly (well, for a Slaine comic book fan anyway), the Celt warriors fighting to reclaim their own country. Despite the average 3/5 score, this is a film that I'll always keep in my collection for personal reasons. Not only am I a big fan of sword fighting battle sequences (and the big finale is excellent), but just watching the blue painted Celts in action is enough to excite me. Weirdly, especially when the (rather too posh in terms of accent) Keira Knightly is painted up at the finale and joining in whilst wearing a very appealing to look at, leather strap bra! And I'm sure that's something which many viewers will both hate and find laughable.
Whilst it's documented that the Celtic women did also fight in battles, Pat Mill's Slaine comics have always had larger than life celtic females coming across as sometimes being far more deadly than many of their male counterparts, so I really loved seeing it! If a dragon or two and some warp spasms had also been thrown into the mix, this would've been perfect! ;) This isn't a bad film by any means but it's dogged throughout by irritating moments or performances that badly let it down. Surprisingly, the main culprit is Clive Owen as Arthur. Many of the actors that he's interacting with give very strong performances - meanwhile Owen spouts out his lines like the mushy flesh equivalent of a celtic Wicker Man. In short, he's wooden. Very.
Another key flaw is that the mercifully short scenes that show the protaganists as children, are incredibly unmoving despite the best efforts of Hans Zimmer's epic sounding score. Luckily the film has pacing on it's side as it doesn't meander too much and the action sequences are conveniently placed so that one doesn't dwell on those poor aspects too much. Despite rooting it's script firmly in UK history rather than legend, King Arthur often crosses the border into fantastical territories with the looks and fearsome battle performances of the Saxon leader and King Arthur's "knights." And there is some more than decent, enjoyable photography to make special note of.
Most people would probably want to hire this newer version first rather than risking their cash but I suspect that the far more violent director's cut might sway a few, as forgiving as I, consumers to purchase their own copy. It's a lot of fun if you don't take this sort of thing far more seriously than you really should. btw This region two release has far less extras than the region one equivalent but since it features an absolutely thumping dts soundtrack, I'd say that was a more than fair trade-off. I'll definetly take the dts instead which adds a much needed umph to the proceedings. I'm certainly not worried about loosing some making of extras, the film wasn't that great after all.
We UK folks get:
- An excellent 2,35:1 anamorphic print with blistering dts and 5.1 sound.
- An alternate, and better, ending with optional commentary from the director (4 mins).
- A 17 min making of and a photo gallery.
Explain this to me - the director clearly prefers the alternate ending yet it still doesn't make it onto his "director's cut" of the film? What's up with that? The bottom line - rent first just in case, not great but certainly not as awful as was made out. The extra violence might change a few minds.
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