King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
Warner Bros. | Release Date: May 12, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
41
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 45 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
28
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Time OutDave CalhounMay 10, 2017
Put your fingers in your ears when the talking starts, and you might enjoy the view. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 9, 2017
Ritchie’s film is at all times over the top, crashing around its digital landscapes in all manner of beserkness, sometimes whooshing along, sometimes stuck in the odd narrative doldrum. But it is often surprisingly entertaining, and whatever clunkers he has delivered in the past, Ritchie again shows that a film-maker of his craft and energy commands attention. Read full review
58
The Film StageMike MazzantiMay 18, 2017
Sure, it doesn’t always work — mainly due to some bad writing, shoddy visual effects, and tonal oddities — but when King Arthur: Legend of the Sword finds its stride, it’s a neat little tincture of Snatchian attitude and fantasy lore that is a good bit of early summer fun. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMay 12, 2017
Ritchie is so adept that the film is compulsively watchable, but it’s watchable in the same way as a massive train wreck or the slow-motion demolition of a high-rise. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyMay 9, 2017
The franchise-hungry tentpole-itis of the present studio model has produced oh-so-many dumb rehashes of classic myths and fairy tales, but this is the first that is always funny on purpose. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyKevin P. SullivanMay 9, 2017
King Arthur could have been a rollicking blast. Instead it’s just another wannabe blockbuster with too much flash and not enough soul. Read full review
55
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeMay 9, 2017
There are quick cuts and CG imagery and bro-ing out in nearly equal proportions; I found some of this excess to be heady and exciting, but by the end of the film’s running time, it all became a bit tiresome, to say nothing of tiring. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerMay 11, 2017
Some might find it stimulating. Others will find it bonkers. Watching Jude Law do a slow-motion howl, for example, is certainly … something. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMay 11, 2017
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword isn't a movie as much as a feature length montage of bastardized lore and rejected Game of Thrones pitches. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisMay 11, 2017
Arthur and Vortigern mix it up amid a lot of shenanigans, detours and filler, some bad, some good and all of it disposable. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartMay 11, 2017
Unfortunately, “Arthur” is rarely at its best, bogged down in countless CGI sequences of battlefields or monsters. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 11, 2017
There are some fun bits in the film. Law is kind of funny, in and over-the-top, does-he-mean-to-be-like-this way. Hunnam is game for playing Arthur. But Ritchie, in his attempt to ensure there’s never a dull moment, makes it all exhausting. Read full review
50
Village VoiceBilge EbiriMay 9, 2017
King Arthur is neither Guy Ritchie’s worst film nor his best, but it might well be his most frustrating. A compendium of all the things that make the British director so occasionally exciting and so often irritating, this new, hyper-stylized take on the Arthurian legends veers between genius and idiocy. Read full review
50
USA TodayBrian TruittMay 9, 2017
Legend of the Sword’s overemphasis on the supernatural and the visually spectacular mortally wounds an often-rollicking adventure. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 9, 2017
In all honesty, the rat-a-tat repartee and tasty touches of Classic pre-Madonna Ritchie don’t excuse a bastardization that takes forever to get on its feet, that lacks the requisite love story (Ritchie and his “boys will be boys” pictures), that presents too much of Angle-land as a burnt-out pit quarry, that revels in anachronisms. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonMay 9, 2017
Commercial considerations strangle the vitality from the movie, but Ritchie does his best to bring a bit of impish wit to the proceedings. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyMay 9, 2017
From one moment to the next, it's possible to on some level enjoy the shaking up of tired conventions in a swordplay fantasy such as this and then to be dismayed by the lowbrow vulgarity of what's ended up onscreen. The film gives with one hand and takes away with the other, which can be frustrating in what's meant to be an entertainment. Read full review
50
ScreenCrushMatt SingerMay 9, 2017
A bloated action movie with occasional breaks in the monotony. It’s Perfectly Fine™; entirely competent but unexceptional in just about every way. Read full review
45
IGNJosh LasserJun 1, 2017
The most frustrating thing about Ritchie's take on King Arthur is that it has all the necessary elements to be a great version of the story, but rather than giving them to the audience as such, they are put into a blender and thoroughly mixed. Read full review
42
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 9, 2017
Part “Game of Thrones,” part “Snatch,” and almost all bad, Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is one of those generic blockbusters that has nothing to say and no idea how to say it. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangMay 11, 2017
Somehow hectic and lumbering, diverting and dispiriting all at once, this mud-toned medieval pulp largely cleaves to the spirit of Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes” series, reducing a fabled figure of British lore to two hours of tough-guy swagger and head-pounding digital thwackery. Read full review
40
TimeStephanie ZacharekMay 11, 2017
It's all more wearying than fun. Except for Law, whose courtly sangfroid can elevate even the dumbest roles. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesMay 10, 2017
The story never drags – it’s too frenetically paced for that – but it’s still kind of a drag. Read full review
40
EmpireJimi FamurewaMay 9, 2017
Although it flickers to life at times, King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword devolves into a jumbled affair, weighed down by confusing supernatural elements and a lazy reliance on visual effects. Read full review
40
Total FilmJamie GrahamMay 9, 2017
This is a tonal misfire, its characters cut down by a blitzkrieg of whip pans, CGI and thunderous percussion. And with Ritchie again rummaging in his increasingly threadbare bag of tricks, the result is a movie more jaundiced than jaunty. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter DebrugeMay 9, 2017
Ultimately, “King Arthur” is just a loud, obnoxious parade of flashy set pieces, as one visually busy, belligerent action scene after another marches by, each making less sense than the last, but all intended to overwhelm. Read full review
40
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoMay 9, 2017
Excitement is fleeting, dialogue rambles and Jude Law’s tyrant-approved throne slouch pretty much sums the film’s overall attitude – a hearty “meh,” worthy of no diamond-studded crown. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 9, 2017
Ritchie’s film...is so misshapen and inert, your imagination and memory never come close to being sparked by it. Just sticking with the plot soaks up every ounce of concentration you have. Read full review
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