I've just watched the trailer of guy richie's upcoming king arthur. The plot appears to be beyond stupid and needlessly manichean, a popular trend for blockbuster these days.
However, what really stands out is the arms and armor, undoubtedly the worst I've seen in years (Ladyhawke armors would seem historically accurate compared to these grotesque costumes). That said, lead actors also behave like modern bikers, which is no surprise - Arthur himself accessed fame through sons of anarchy...I won't even mention the african sidekick to please broader audiences, the michelin man gambeson or the idious Excalibur prop that would make a cheap Spanish wall hanger look desirable.

All in all, this movie looks like a proper abomination - should you think me excessive, have a look for yourself, or look at the pic below (featuring D Beckham in his first widescreen appearance - nice pyjamas, not to mention the sword which is clearly a cheap Chinese counterfeit of the lord of the ring ring wrath sword with a tiny pommel...and these helmets, or Becham's trendy hair cut don't help much either).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIM4-HLtUM0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4luDtkC3Oy0

ps: Excalibur (J Boorman) is one of my favorite movies. Thx god it was spared a Hollywood remake recently (and a close call at that...)

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It's Guy Ritchie so it'll be good no matter how inaccurate the costuming and props are... I don't look to Hollyweird for accuracy in anything. Besides, considering the time that the real Arthur was supposed to have lived, 'Excalibur' was/is equally as laughable.

Damn, Julien....You're kind of ticked off, eh? :lol: But, yes, that looks pretty cheesy to me. I'll spend my time on something much better...like polishing the soles of my boots. :lol: ......McM

Agreed with the Excalibur comment. John Boormans vision of Arthur's court was without par even if the armor and weapons were a century late. It didn't matter. I wish they would make another movie similar to that. A really accurate movie about Caesar would be nice too. Perhaps only focusing on his conquest of Gaul and the attempt at Britain. It'll happen eventually

I'd go for an ACCURATE version of 'Braveheart'. ;) Love the movie, but.......... :wtf: ...........McM

That wouldn't paint William Wallace in a very good light. If history is correct he was just as bad a person as Longshanks

That may be true, and Wallace's actions may have been 'less than noble' at times, but history is what it is. There's no sense in trying to whitewash it away. History is built on blood and anguish...as much as we'd like to shine it up. ;) ....McM

An entire cast of Black Knights? Don't disappoint us, Ritchie, there better be limbs flying all over the place.

I can think of two ways to make a good Arthur movie. One would be to set it in in Britain around 450 to 500 AD with Arthur defending the post Roman kingdoms from Saxon incursions. I can only think of one movie that tried this, and it wasn't very good. The other way is to set the story in some mythic Medieval wonderland. I favor putting it into a 13th century setting, just before plate armor started to come in. Using as genuine as possible clothing and armor and customs from that period would be very cool. I would hope that modern ideas about the way things should be could be kept out of the film.

I'm cool with fantasy movies having fantasy arms and armour in them. That's fine. I don't need to see historically accurate things that are based in reality for these types of movies. It's often really fun to see the imagination of a good creative department who's put a lot of thought into something come to fruition on screen.

Having said this, this is not one of those instances.

Arms and armour, in any universe, must be effective and usable. The choices these folks did aren't either of those things. The armour is cumbersome and non-protective. Combine that with all the heavy, unwieldy and stupid looking swords these guys are carrying across their backs, and you just get a mess.

On top of that, the dramatic parts shown to us in the trailers look boring, redundant and vapid.

Pass.

Wow, that was hard to watch. I mean, at least it had flaming explosions, but still... Yeah, give me Monty Python any day.

Matthew

Watching any kind of theatrical entertainment requires a willingness to suspend disbelief and pure fantasy can be fun and entertaining but there's a limit and when that line is crossed amusement is replaced with irritation. I think I could enjoy an Arthurian story in which he's resisting the Saxons or a thirteenth century Arthur but either one would need to be at least passably consistent in period details or my eyeballs would start ti itch!

The one brief shot of the 'tree-bark/camo/wood-nymph/elf/whatever she is' looked....umm...interesting. :eek: :D The rest of the costumes looked like a LARP convention gone terribly, terribly wrong. :lol: .....McM

I've seen few good and bad Arthurian films over the years. My first reaction when I saw the trailer that there was no way I was going to see this, my brain would explode. I am probably going to see it because my wife wants to see it, but I may have to duct tape my mouth shut.

Put the tape over your eyes...your mouth should be fine. :lol: ....McM