King Arthur

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King Arthur

PG-13

Released Jul 7, 2004

2h 6m

History

Drama

Adventure

Action

War

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30%

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187 Reviews

59%

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250,000+ Ratings

In this interpretation of the classic tale, Arthur (Clive Owen) is a cavalry officer in the Roman army defending Hadrian's Wall against rebellious Britons. He and his troops are expecting to be relieved but are instead sent on a risky mission to rescue the Roman family of Marius Honorius, who proves a despicable torturer of pagans. Arthur frees one of them, Guinevere (Keira Knightley), who in turn brokers a truce between Arthur and the Britons so as to ward off an invading Saxon army.

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Critics Consensus

The magic is gone, leaving a dreary, generic action movie.

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Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Entertaining, but ultimately forgettable.

Rated: 3/5

Dec 24, 2010

Full Review

Sara Michelle Fetters

MovieFreak.com

Maybe I'm too close to the material, maybe I wanted more from Bruckheimer and Fuqua than they could ever be expected to deliver.

Rated: 1.5/4

Dec 13, 2005

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Jeannette Catsoulis

Las Vegas Mercury

Misguided, miscast, and completely misconceived, the wretched King Arthur is one of the grittier, more earnest failures to appear this summer.

Rated: 2/5

Sep 9, 2004

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

This is a film devoid of soul.

Rated: 1.0/4.0

Sep 13, 2020

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Micheal Compton

Bowling Green Daily News

Summer action fare with just enough intelligence to put it above the mindless action films that usually litter multiplexes this time of year.

Rated: B-

Nov 16, 2019

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Mark Steyn

The Spectator

Clive Owen is a very dour plonker of an Arthur and has zero chemistry with Keira Knightley.

Jan 25, 2018

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Luka H

Ver good. Worth seeing.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/23/24

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Dani G

They had good intentions... An attempt to demystify the legend and present a different version of what we've seen before of this tale, but it wasn't well executed

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

06/08/24

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ANY1aBLUE

Oh dear. Given the amount of ‘Arthurian' competition there is, you'd think a director wanting to make his mark would be careful about the casting and script - unfortunately, this one is so bad in both aspects it's laughable. The acting is tragically dreadful. The saving grace, if there is one, is that the storyline is interesting and the production quality good too. But that doesn't make this even averagely watchable.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/06/24

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R 9

I had a lot of fun with 'King Arthur'! It has all of the ingredients of an entertaining film for me. I'm a sucker for a great score and this 2004 flick has just that, from the very first scene in fact - great way to open the movie! Absolutely no surprise whatsoever to see that Hans Zimmer was on music for this - legend! There are also a number of actors that I like from other productions. Keira Knightley is the standout in my opinion, followed by Ioan Gruffudd - who has a great voice for narration, which kept bringing back fond memories of his showing as Henry Morgan in severely underrated television show 'Forever'. Those two I enjoyed most, though Ray Winstone, Stephen Dillane (if underused) and Stellan Skarsgård (if a tad underwhelming) are positives as well. The one obvious omission from that previous paragraph is Clive Owen, who of course plays the titular character. I'm mixed on his performance. He nailed (most of) the speeches, though I wasn't convinced with his overall acting level. I feel like the filmmakers should've chosen someone more commanding to lead this, Owen is a little bit too meh in my eyes. No idea, nor interest in truth, in how supposedly accurate this is in regards to folklore, but simply judging it as a film I can only say I got what I wanted from it - entertainment. 8/10.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/04/23

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isa e

Really liked this, a lot of things you can nit pick, like the teleporting around prior to final battle. But well acted well directed and a fine time .

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

07/31/23

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Kris G

just look at hugh dancy and don't think too much about the plot

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

11/13/23

Full Review

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Antoine Fuqua

Director

Clive Owen

Arthur

Keira Knightley

Guinevere

Ioan Gruffudd

Lancelot

Stephen Dillane

Merlin

Stellan Skarsgård

Cerdic

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King Arthur: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

In this interpretation of the classic tale, Arthur (Clive Owen) is a cavalry officer in the Roman army defending Hadrian's Wall against rebellious Britons. He and his troops are expecting to be relieved but are instead sent on a risky mission to rescue the Roman family of Marius Honorius, who proves a despicable torturer of pagans. Arthur frees one of them, Guinevere (Keira Knightley), who in turn brokers a truce between Arthur and the Britons so as to ward off an invading Saxon army.

Director: Antoine Fuqua
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer
Screenwriter: David Franzoni, John Lee Hancock
Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures, Touchstone Pictures
Production Co: Touchstone Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Rating: PG-13 (Scene of Sensuality|Intense Battle Sequences|Some Language)
Genre: History, Drama, Adventure, Action, War
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 7, 2004, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 10, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $51.9M
Runtime: 2h 6m
Sound Mix: Surround

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