KING ARTHUR (2004)The Untold True Story That Inspired The Legend
Official Buena Vista International site (in the international lingua French)
A decidedly different take on the tale of King Arthur, Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table. After 15 years of serving and fighting for the Roman Empire, Arthur/Artorious Castus (Clive Owen) and his band of Sarmatian elite knights have one last mission, after which freedom, finally, awaits, if not in this life, in the next then. Their mission, however, is soon called to question when Arthur rescues a Woad warrior maiden, Guinevere (Keira Knightley, "Doctor Zhivago", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "P&P", "Atonement", "The Duchess") from imprisonment and torture.♥
Guinevere: "Arthur and his knights. A leader both Briton and Roman. And yet, you chose your allegiance to Rome, to those who take what does not belong to them. That same Rome that took your men from their homeland."
Arthur: "Listen, lady, do not pretend you know anything about me or my men."
Guinevere: "How many Britons have you killed?"
Athur: "As many as tried to kill me. It's the natural state of any man to want to live."
Guinevere: "Animals live! It's the natural state of any man to want to live free... in their own country. I belong to this land. Where do you belong, Arthur?"
Guinevere [to Athur]: "Is there nothing about my land that appeals to your heart? Your own father married a Briton. Even he must have found something to his liking."
Ladies, hold your breaths for NINE STARS, for quite a handsome brotherhood these men make, Arthur's Knights of the Round Table:
* The tall, dark and suave Clive Owen (b. 1964, "Gosford Park", "Elizabeth: The Golden Age") as Athur, a man in conflict
* Ioan Gruffudd (b. 1973, ("Hornblower", "The Forsyte Saga"), as Arthur's best friend, Lancelot, who in this version has no claim on Guinevere
* The dark handsome Scandinavian Mads Mikkelsen (b. 1965, "I am Dina") as the falconer Tristan
* The quite Hugh Grant-like Hugh Dancy (b. 1975, "Madame Bovary", "Young Blades", "Daniel Deronda", "Elizabeth I") as Galahad
* The German leading man Til Schweiger (b. 1963) as the Saxon Cynric
* Ray Stevenson (b. 1964, "Rome") as the brave, loyal Dagonet
* Ray Winston (b. 1957, "Henry VIII", "Cold Mountain", "Beowulf", "Robin of Sherwood", ) as the mountain of a man, Bors
* Joel Edgerton (b. 1974) as the young and brash Gawain
* The hot couple Arthur and Guinevere
