Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
ma-cortes Spectacular adventure with a lot of colorful pageantry and old-fashioned action , concerning on King Arthur and Prince Valiant , though the movie falls short . It packs a non-sense blending of joky modern dialog and Dark Ages action , as the screenwriters don't get the appropriate touch . The whole cast is far too distinguished to be appearing in this sort of caricature of Medieval legends . It deals with King Arthur who governs in the legendary citadel that is Camelot . His Knights of the Round Table commit acts of derring-do and spend their spare time jousting and enjoying feasts . There young orphaned Valiant (chubby Stephen Moyer) is the squire to Sir Gawain (the same director Anthony Hickox) , one of King Arthur's (Edward Fox who steals the acting honours) knights . He is given the task of escorting princess Ilene (Katherine Heigl who is inappropriate here , holding an excessive ironic tone) to her home in Wales and naturally the young twosome fall in love . Meantime , the sword Excalibur has been robbed by Viking king usurper (Udo Kier) , an evil tyrant , and villainous leader Thagnar (Thomas Kretschmann). Then Ilene gets kidnapped and it's up to Prince Valiant to rescue both Ilene and Excalibur . As young Valiant set off to save princess away from risks and of course rides into it . As Valiant brushes aside bangs and journeys to Thule to look for his lover . There Valiant along with a group of outlaws (Warwick Davis , Ron Perlman) attack the Viking stronghold . This is a Medieval tale with adventures , full-bloodied action , unspeakable dialog , villainy , terrific jousting , romance and heroism in the grandeur of Scope although in television set loses splendor . The movie displays breathtaking battles , being ambitious in scope with epic confrontation and a striking final climax for a mortal duel . Handsome story , being regularly written and contains some awkward narrative elements . Excellent settings , monumental castles ,outdoors and tournaments or jousts are well staged . However this spectacular film never takes off as it should despite pomp and circumstance showed , so you'll be excited and embarrassed alternately . In any case , filmmaker does some breathtaking set pieces and the attack of a Viking castle colorful and vividly thrilling . This is the classic story of romantic adventure come to life enriched by glamorous color and impressive battles . Wooden protagonist duo , Stephen Moyer and Katherine Heigl , both of whom future TV stars with ¨True Blood¨ and Grey's anatomy¨, respectively . ing cast is frankly good though wasted , employing such notorious players and not building them roles with which to make a considerable impact , as the screenplay never give them a chance , there appears great stars as Edward Fox , Ron Perlman , Joanna Lumley as Morgana Le Fey , Walter Gotell's last final and Thomas Kretschmann who wields an ax with vigour . The movie was re-cut by the German producers, while the director was away on Christmas vacation. They wouldn't fly him back to to finish the film. Four key scenes setting up its humorous tone and all religious aspects were removed.This is another attempt to literally transfer a comic-strip about the Arthurian saga to the screen , the first and the best was ¨Prince Valiant¨(1954) by Henry Hathaway with Robert Wagner , Janet Leigh , Victor McLagen , Donald Crisp , Sterling Hayden and Debra Paget . Other movies on the matter of legends of Arthur resulted to be : (1953) the classic ¨Knights of the Round Table¨ (by Richard Thorpe) , the musical ¨Camelot¨ (Joshua Logan), the fantastic ¨Excalibur¨ (John Boorman) , ¨First Knight¨ (Jerry Zucker) and recently ¨King Arthur¨ (Antoine Fuqua) . The picture will appeal to aficionados with chivalric ideals and epic movies fans , it is a able production that will lose much on small television screen . .
Tressa Breen Villainy, jousting, swordplay, a princess in peril, an unknowing prince on a quest, and all in the shadow of Excalibur: what more could the average ten year old would-be Knight ask for? Set in the days of Round Table chivalry, this is the comic book tale of the orphan and page Valiant (Stephen Moyer) who, due to a case of mistaken identity, is escorting a princess (Katherine Heigl) to her fiancée when Excalibur is stolen from King Arthur (Edward Fox) by his evil stepsister Morgan Le Fey (Joanne Lumley) and two warring brothers (Udo Kier, Thomas Kretchsmann) from an enemy Kingdom. Valiant and the princess become part of the struggle of "he who holds the sword rules the world" which leads them both to love and Valiant to his princely destiny. This is an okay rainy afternoon movie that is definitely geared toward a young audience. The acting is decent enough, the jousting is done well, and the swordplay isn't bad. Occasionally a scene will fade into a cartoon comic book sequence with voice over. Stunt work is kind of lame and there is this dumb armored alligator effect. Over all, kids will get a kick out of it (and adults will groan-laugh). Worth a rent/buy used for the kids.
laura_nd1 The true star of the film, yes that right I'm talking about Chesney Hawkes! Without his brief but exquisite performance the film would just be a very disappointing with a lack lustre scrip and even worst over the top acting.' But your father gave me strict instructions to...' Arguable one of the best lines in cinematic history, do you not agree! I thank you Chesney Hawkes for one of the best performances ever!
