The Kid Who Would Be King (2019)

Where to start... Based on the trailers (and the fact that it's Arthurian-related!), I had been really looking forward to seeing The Kid Who Would Be King last winter, except it came and went in the cinema so fast I missed out on my chance. And now I'm kind of glad I didn't see it because owww... I don't know if it was because I wasn't in the right mind frame when I watched it last night (and half asleep), or I've finally outgrown kids' movies (boo!) or it's just not that good? I will say that the lead kids themselves were pretty good with their roles, and fit well together as duos and then the team. Particularly Louis Ashbourne Serkis, whose Alex is a fitting stand in for a young King Arthur.

For me the reference points from previous Arthurian tales for this movie are clearly T.H. White's The Once and Future King, or for the kids watching but who haven't read it Disney's The Sword in the Stone, and also the film A Kid in King Arthur's Court (for the mix of medieval and modern warfare tactics, but in the present instead of the past). You could imagine it as a centuries-later sequel to the animated film. It even starts out with an animated retelling of the main points of the Arthurian legend - with an added level of fantasy with a stronger and more evil sorceress Morgana who swears to return to claim the land once Arthur is gone and no longer remembered and basically the world has gone to shit (wars, famine, greed etc. in abundance - so basically present day).

Obviously, spoilers below!

King Arthur of the Seven Seas!

Arthur & Excalibur

What's that? You mean that's not the title of the latest Aquaman movie starring Jason Momoa?!

Could have fooled me! I mean, let's look at the evidence:

• The young prince growing up away from his throne, for his own safety - check
• Grizzled mentor who tries to prepare him for the throne, but doesn't always tell him the whole truth - check
• Prince Arthur - check
• A quest - check
• A Lady in the Lake - well, a Queen in the Sea at the centre of the world, close enough! - check
• A magical sword in a stone - ok, it's an all-powerful trident in a fossilized skeleton's hands, but close enough - check
• An impressive (future) queen who stands by her (future) king - check
• "One true king" - check
• Main enemy is a family member - younger brother vs nephew? We'll take it! - check

See what I mean?!

Lady in the Lake

Guinevere

Merlin

Mordred

Attempting a "historical" King Arthur in the movies (2004)

Here's a movie I remember being excited about when it was announced (King Arthur on the big screen? yay! Digging into possible historical basis? cool!), and then being a bit puzzled with it when it came out. Not quite convinced by it as "King Arthur", but having enjoyed it as a film nonetheless, in great part thanks to its excellent actors (who sadly had to work with some clunky dialogue at times *shudder*).

* Sidebar: next time someone wants a "historical" King Arthur... just go straight to the excellent "The Warlord Chronicles" by Bernard Cornwell and adapt those! *

Diving into it now, because I was looking for something to pop into the dvd player that I hadn't seen in ages, and felt in the mood for some swordplay and horseback riding. 😉

So let's take a closer look at King Arthur (2004; note: "Director's Edition", and I don't remember enough of the cinematic to point out the differences), directed by Antoine Fuqua, screenplay by David Franzoni and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (which explains quite a bit... *sigh*) and starring Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd and Keira Knightley (in her first post-Pirates movie I believe; curiously before this she'd done a Robin Hood movie for Disney called Princess of Thieves which I guess I'll have to watch at some point for this blog!).

Need I say it? SPOILER ALERT for a 2004 movie!

Who is this King Arthur?

Artorius (Arthur) Castus. A half-Roman / half-British (mother) commander of the troops guarding Hadrian's Wall (like his father before him), leader of a unit of Sarmatian knights who serve Rome fro 15 years. A name apparently already well-known throughout the island (Guinevere tells him "My father told me great tales of you (...) Fairy tales. The kind you hear about people so brave, so selfless, that they can't be real. Arthur and his knights. A leader both Briton and Roman."). He's a devout Christian, a student of Pelagius (who is now deemed a heretic by Rome) who believes men have free will and thus are free to choose their own destiny/fate. When he learns that Pelagius is dead and his teachings of equality among men are deemed heretical by Rome, his faith in Rome is shaken (Alecto "the Rome you believe in does not exist except in your dreams").

Clive Owen does an excellent job of bringing to life a man who is dedicated to his cause (Rome, his men), tired of waging battle and longing for a peaceful life in Rome, who slowly begins to understand himself better as he is forced to confront certain truths about Rome and faces the prospect of the land he has dedicated his life to protecting simply being abandoned to its fate during the Saxon invasion.

Robin Hood (Ridley Scott)

It's high time I started writing again, and my favourite archer has long been waiting in the wings for me to drop King Arthur for a while and dedicate some of my time to him! Part of the delay was because I wanted to start with the oldest stuff possible (books, legends), but I'm lost in a series of books that won't let me go and I don't know when I'll start reading about Robin Hood! Anyhow, the other day I was staring at my shelves, trying to decide which movie to watch, and my eyes kept coming back to Ridley Scott's 2010 movie Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. This version brings us an origin story (why are those still so popular?) with older characters and places the action a bit later in the historical context.

Who is this Robin Hood?

Robin Longstride is a man without a home, a family or a past. An archer in King Richard's army returning from the Crusades, he takes the place of Robert Loxley, a close friend of the Lionheart, whom he happens upon as he is dying from an ambush which was meant for the King (who was already dead). He impersonates him (and his companions take the place of other dead knights) in order to obtain passage to England on the Royal ship, take the Crown to London to inform them of the King's death and to take Loxley's sword back to his estranged father who lives near Nottingham.

Robin's companions (John, Will, Alan) are fellow soldiers from the Crusader army, Marion is Loxley's widow to whom she had been married barely a week when he set off for the Crusades. The Sheriff of Nottingham is the local (somewhat cowardly) tax collector who keeps trying to get Marion...