Rotten Tomatoes Logo Do you want to see ‘King Arthur’?

King Arthur (2004)

tomatometer

32

Average Rating: 4.9/10
Reviews Counted: 184
Fresh: 58 | Rotten: 126

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

32

Average Rating: 5.2/10
Critic Reviews: 38
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 26

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, 2 hr. 6 min.

Drama, Action & Adventure

David H. Franzoni

Dec 21, 2004

$51.7M

Buena Vista Pictures

Cast

All Critics (193) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (60) | Rotten (127) | 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 | Comment
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Gladiator lite.

July 15, 2004 Comment
Rolling Stone
Top Critic IconTop Critic

I loved the notion of the Dark Ages as the Wild West with swords. Thumbs up.

July 12, 2004 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | Comment
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

If this is history demystified, give me myth.

July 10, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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 | Comment
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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 | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Entertaining, but ultimately forgettable.

December 24, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
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 | Comment
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 | Comment
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 | Comment
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 | Comment
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 | Comment
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) | Comment
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 Comment

...remains an instantly forgettable, wannabe epic.

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

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

January 5, 2005 Comment (1)
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for King Arthur

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

September 29, 2011
TheDudeLebowski65
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski

Super Reviewer

Overblown bastardisation of the King Arthur legend, knee deep in earnest hammy performances, only redeemed by some cracking battle scenes.

September 22, 2007
gor41
Gordon A

Super Reviewer

    1. Artorious Castus: Deeds in themselves are meaningless unless they're for some higher purpose.
    – Submitted by Dann M (2 days ago)
    1. Artorious Castus: There is no destiny. There is only free will.
    – Submitted by Dann M (2 days ago)
    1. Artorious Castus: No man fears to kneel before the god he trusts.
    – Submitted by Dann M (2 days ago)

Latest News for King Arthur

May 6, 2008:
Neil Marshall's 10 Post-Apocalyptic Picks
The Doomsday director runs RT through the movies that inspired his cyber-punk vision of a dodgy...

July 23, 2007:
New Director and Lead for Punisher 2
You may have heard that "The Punisher 2" will be directed by German filmmaker Lexi Alexander, but...

What's Hot On RT

Luis Guzman
Luis Guzman

What are his 10 best movies ever?

<em>Amazing Spider-Man</em>
Amazing Spider-Man

See the all-new action-packed trailer!

The Avengers!
The Avengers!

Five new Marvelous pictures

Total Recall
Total Recall

Unconventional Superheroes

Top Movie Quizzes

LEGO Mania: 2011 Best Picture Nominees
by natalie - 18,545 taken
created 12 months ago
How Much Do You Know About Leonardo DiCaprio?
by natalie - 44,395 taken
created 15 months ago
Pixar Movies!
by jdikwlzviv - 27,126 taken
created 15 months ago
The Wizards of Harry Potter
by jdikwlzviv - 27,629 taken
created 15 months ago

Foreign Titles

  • Le Roi Arthur (FR)
Help | About | Jobs | Newsletter | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Blog | Developers | Mobile