King Arthur
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: July 7, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
21
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Conceptually compelling, but the interest ends there, in part because the humans get squeezed to the margins in favor of pseudo-history and clashing battleaxes. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
While Keira Knightley brightens things up as Guinevere, the casting is otherwise lackluster. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesMoira Macdonald
Unfortunately, King Arthur is somewhat less compelling than the "Lord of the Rings" movies; there's serious intent here, but an often thudding execution. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineNick Schager
Revisionist mythmaking of the most bland variety, the Jerry Bruckheimer produced King Arthur purports to tell the true tale of the ancient British hero and his valiant Knights of the Round Table by stripping away the magic, mystery, and majesty of the fable and replacing it with grim n' grimy realism. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Fuqua deliberately downplays the fantastical in King Arthur, but the gritty faux realism wears itself out quickly. You've seen one lancing, you've seen them all. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Everything is pre-medieval and unwashed, but with Antoine Fuqua at the steering wheel King Arthur is still a comic book, if a little more "Classics Illustrated" in tone than we'd have the right to expect. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
A nutty, often enjoyable farrago of craft and cinematic sampling, King Arthur moves fast and loose, and is almost aggressive in its absence of an original idea, in and of itself a Bruckheimer trademark. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Luckily there is an element of broad, brawny camp that prevents King Arthur from being a complete drag. Read full review
50
PremierePeter Debruge
I'd gladly take the legend over this dreary pseudo-historical mumbo jumbo. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Plays like a remake - not of "Knights of the Round Table" (1953) but of director Antoine Fuqua's previous "Tears of the Sun" (2003). Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
This glum and grandiose new King Arthur has little to do with the Camelot monarch we've come to know through books and film. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsStaff (Not Credited)
This version has action, yes, but the love triangle among Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot is diluted, and there's nothing exuberant about a dutiful slog through the muck. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
If only the sum of this thunderously self-important "true story" outweighed its often fabulous parts, but it resorts to throwing up hollow icons in that most ignoble of losses, the expensive mediocrity. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Strains credulity at every turn. Read full review
40
NewsweekMarc Peyser
Unfortunately, none of this is very much fun. The cinematography is dark and depressing. The dialogue is stilted. And for some reason, director Antoine Fuqua has even ditched the Arthur/Guinevere/ Lancelot love triangle. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
An Arthurian tale minus everything the average person knows or cares about Arthur and his knights. Read full review
40
SalonStephanie Zacharek
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. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
King Arthur is a snooze, overcast and drizzly both on location and on the pages of the script. Owen is too classy, too James Bond-handsome to realistically portray the not-yet-King Arthur. Read full review
40
Film ThreatClint Morris
Thankfully, the dependable Ray Winstone ("Sexy Beast") is in the film too and gives a droll, slightly-more realistic take of an uncultured abet to Arthur's side. Read full review
40
TimeRichard Schickel
The weather is always inclement, the protagonists are all muddy when they're not bloody, King Arthur's Christianity is muscular but joyless, and Guinevere is often daubed with blue paint. No, folks, we're not in Camelot anymore. Read full review
40
EmpireIan Nathan
Nothing aligns, nothing builds, and before you know it we’re hip-deep in the big showdown -- a free-wheeling frenzy of choreographed combat that neglects to find much space for the cast. Read full review
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