King Arthur
I finally saw it. The film.
What a great looking, odd little movie. I was prepared for the worst, because so many people have described this Jerry Bruckheimer dark ages shoot-em-up as the absolutely, hands down worst movie they've ever seen. As those of you who dip into this blog regularly know, I'm working on a cycle of plays based on the Arthur stories, the first of which recently received a reading at the Jean Cocteau Repertory Theatre in New York, the second of which will open at Taproot Theatre this spring.
So prepared for the worst, I was surprised at how much I liked the set-up of the film. The narration was clunky, but there is so much territory to cover in terms of setting up an Arthurian world so different from Malory's or T.H. White's, I was willing to give the writer some room. The idea that Arthur was a leader of a near-mercenary troop of horsemen is nothing new, and historically, there is some sense to it. The fact that these men are essentially slaves fighting for the notion of freedom is compelling on the face of it, and they look great, as rough as they should, enjoying or despising the killing according to character. The tension of Merlin and the Woads vs. Arthur's knights is interesting, and the notion that must unite to fight a vicious army of Saxons works as well.
At least in theory.
So here I am, enjoying the heck out of seeing these interesting looking people whack away at each other, trying hard to figure out the logistics of 7 guys taking on an army of thousands (oh, there's Woads in the bushes, and its foggy...okay) and suddenly, Arthur is married to Gwen and the movie's over. Ohhhh...that's why it's the worst movie people have ever seen.
There's no movie. As in, no story.
Literally...no story. How can this be? The whole point of the Arthur tales, and the reason theye've lasted, is the story. This film feels like a very long, very expensive, and very compelling (in my view) first ten minutes of a film, as in, okay, now what is going to happen that is really going to be the story? And it's over? There's no chase for Gwen? No haunting moments of relationship crisis between Arthur and Gwen? Arthur and Merlin? Lancelot and Merlin?
What a great looking, weird little movie. I'll probably watch it a bunch of times, skipping over the blood and guts, just because there are so many things right about it from an aesthetic point of view. At least it'll be a nice resource for designers of The Arthur Cycle to look at.
9:04:44 AM
