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King Arthur

King Arthur (2004)

tomatometer

31

Average Rating: 5/10
Reviews Counted: 182
Fresh: 57 | Rotten: 125

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

33

Average Rating: 5.2/10
Critic Reviews: 40
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 27

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

audience

63

liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 364,315

My Rating

Movie Info

An ambitious attempt to wed the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table with known historical facts of the era, this action adventure drama begins with the fall of the Roman Empire in 450 A.D. as Roman armies flee the British Isles. Arthur (Clive Owen), a heroic knight and devoted Christian, is torn between his desire to travel to Rome to serve his faith and his loyalty to the land of his birth. As England falls into lawlessness, Arthur throws in his lot with a band of knights

PG-13,

Drama, Action & Adventure

David H. Franzoni

Dec 21, 2004

$51.7M

Buena Vista Pictures - Official Site External Icon

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Cast

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All Critics (191) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (59) | Rotten (126) | DVD (35)

A title card says this King Arthur, grimly directed by Antoine Fuqua, is based on the latest research into the mythic past. Maybe so. But one can't help thinking the research that really counted was that into the more recent box-office charts.

July 15, 2004 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine
TIME Magazine
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Gladiator lite.

July 15, 2004
Rolling Stone
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I loved the notion of the Dark Ages as the Wild West with swords. Thumbs up.

July 12, 2004 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
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If this is history demystified, give me myth.

July 10, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
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It's hard to care about a valiant groping for accuracy when a story is so badly told you can't tell what the devil is going on.

July 10, 2004 Full Review Source: Salon.com
Salon.com
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By going back to its origins and dusting itself off, the King Arthur story has proved itself to have a very contemporary resonance.

July 9, 2004 Full Review Source: Washington Post
Washington Post
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Entertaining, but ultimately forgettable.

December 24, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

The interminable battle scenes are limply choreographed and unexciting. This is one king that's best left alone.

July 11, 2010 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com
ColeSmithey.com

Get past the oddity of this version and ignore the shortcomings, and it's worth watching.

July 26, 2007 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

Guinevere, no dainty princess she, is a kind of hardened medieval feminist, and the aggressor to Arthur's bashful but equally driven warrior, in both bed and on the battlefield.

May 31, 2007 Full Review
Long Island Press

Guinevere, no dainty princess she, is a kind of hardened medieval feminist, and the aggressor to Arthur's bashful but equally driven warrior, in both bed and on the battlefield.

May 29, 2007 Full Review
Long Island Press

In many ways this movie tells us far more about the values and age in which we are living, than the one it pretends to be returning us to.

May 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Princeton Town Topics
Princeton Town Topics

A brash departure from the legend that retains the round table, but that's about it. Still, the contemporary echoes make the Dark Ages relevant again and the movie, while longwinded in parts, overcomes its shortcomings.

May 2, 2007 Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine)
Bangor Daily News (Maine)

It nods in the direction of tons of potentially interesting developments of plot, theme and character, but doesn't bother to follow through on any of them enough to pay off.

September 25, 2006
Christianity Today

...remains an instantly forgettable, wannabe epic.

August 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews
Reel Film Reviews

Underrated, revisionist version of the Camelot legend; one of the year's 10 best

January 5, 2005 | Comment (1)

Audience Reviews for King Arthur

There's some blarney about "searching for historical fact" woven into the story but basically what you get is an old timey adventure/propaganda/nationalism piece about how ENGLAND! (always said in capital letters w/an exclamation in this film) rose from the ashes of nations to become A LAND OF FREE MEN! (They let some women come along with 'em, too.) Ehh.
May 21, 2013
UniversalDreamer

Super Reviewer

King Arthur is another mediocre action film by director Antoine Fuqua, who isn't that skilled as a director to begin with. I felt that the films action scenes were well done, but unfortunately that's about it going for it. The plot is under developed, and never really interesting. I think it's a great shame because King Arthur could have been quite an epic film, unfortunately, it isn't. Fuqua's direction is clumsy and unfocused, and the film suffers because of it. Under a different director, the film could have succeeded, but the film is a mediocre attempt at a historical epic, and the end result is a film that doesn't really make you satisfied. The casting choices for this film are very questionable as well. Aside from Sin City and Shoot Em' Up, I'm not a fan of Clive Owen, and in this film he's pretty bad. So is Keira Knightleey, who usually is a good choice for period pieces, but this isn't a period piece film that she should've starred in. Most of the cast are not right for the part, and Fuqua doesn't know how to craft an action epic, and the flaws are apparent on-screen. The film could have been much better; unfortunately the result is a film that is a badly acted and plot mess that will make you lose interest halfway through the end of the film. King Arthur could almost be seen as a guilty pleasure; however, I think the mediocrity of this film is too much for me to see it that way. I don't view King Arthur as an awful film, but almost. The film could have been much better with a better, much developed storyline and a better cast. Oh well, don't get overly excited before watching this film, you may end up disappointed, I was.
September 29, 2011
TheDudeLebowski65
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski

Super Reviewer

    1. Tristan: You are free now.
    – Submitted by Emma B (6 months ago)
    1. Bishop Germanius: We are all going to die someday. If it's death by a Saxonhand that frightens you, stay home!
    – Submitted by Emma B (6 months ago)
    1. Lancelot: I don't believe in heaven. I've been living in this hell. But if you represent what heaven is, then take me there.
    – Submitted by Jayathra L (11 months ago)
    1. Artorious Castus: Deeds in themselves are meaningless unless they're for some higher purpose.
    – Submitted by Dann M (15 months ago)
    1. Artorious Castus: There is no destiny. There is only free will.
    – Submitted by Dann M (15 months ago)
    1. Artorious Castus: No man fears to kneel before the god he trusts.
    – Submitted by Dann M (15 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Le Roi Arthur (FR)
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