King Arthur

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2:03

King Arthur

PG-13

2004

2h 6m

History

Drama

Adventure

Action

War

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Popcornmeter

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 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

Dec 24, 2010

3/5

Entertaining, but ultimately forgettable.

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Sara Michelle Fetters

MovieFreak.com

Dec 13, 2005

1.5/4

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

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Jeannette Catsoulis

Las Vegas Mercury

Sep 9, 2004

2/5

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

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

Sep 13, 2020

1.0/4.0

This is a film devoid of soul.

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Micheal Compton

Bowling Green Daily News

Nov 16, 2019

B-

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

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Mark Steyn

The Spectator

Jan 25, 2018

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

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David B

@RT14283473 Sep 12, 2026

Excalibur & The Holy Grail are exponentially better!

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gerald H

@RottenGary Jul 26, 2026

💩🤢🤮💩🤢🤮💩🤢🤮💩🤢🤮💩🤢🤮💩🤢🤮 what a waste of great actors

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Jacob B

@JB3.0 May 30, 2026

A film meant to appeal more to the Gladiator crowd than the LOTR one given how all fantasy elements are stripped away in favour of just being straight historical fiction, King Arthur is enjoyable nonetheless. Just be sure to seek out the director's cut, since Disney+ only has the not-well-regarded theatrical version. Good acting, some really nice cinematography, well-done battle scenes and even surprisingly funny at times, thanks to Ray "I! AM! BEOWULF!" Winstone. The scenes from the Director's Cut are added seamlessly into the film to the point that I only learned after the fact that certain scenes were not just added but even edited differently for the sake of a tighter continuity. A bit of an oddball for Antoine Fuqua that, understandably if the tales of Disney's interference are true, he never really attempted again but still a memorable watch...as long as it's the Director's Cut.

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Matthew D

@OceanSage Apr 14, 2026

King Arthur is so underrated that it is not even funny. Director Antoine Fuqua’s historical epic King Arthur (2004) is a brilliant and underrated picture. I have seen King Arthur dozens of times and it still moves me as Arthur fights for his brave Sarmatian knights’ freedom and decency in a violent world. Clive Owen is formidable as his tough and caring King Arthur. His ferocious sword fighting and commanding line delivery as spellbinding. Clive Owen delivers my favorite performance of his as King Arthur. Mads Mikkelsen is so cool, handsome, and amusing as the falconer knight and brave scout Sir Tristan. Keira Knightley is very sexy, fierce, and thoughtful as the bow and arrow wielding lady Guinevere.

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Jason S.

@invinoveritas Feb 17, 2026

Everybody hates this movie, but I kind of like it. The action was solid, and the cinematography was actually really good.

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Michael S

@RT09908488 Nov 20, 2025

Lot of hate but I thought it was great!

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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 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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