Blu ray Movies

First Knight (Special Edition) [Blu-ray] Review

3.5 from 5

After the brutal first few minutes of the film, I thought it was going to be a more realistic telling of the Arthurian legend; it turned out to be quite the opposite, but I still enjoyed it.

The Good: The (unrequited) love between Lancelot and Guinevere is more understandable given that Arthur is depicted as being a contemporary of Guinevere’s father, and easily old enough to be her father, if not her grandfather, whereas Lancelot is young and very heroic and dashing. Even so, there is genuine affection between Arthur and Guinevere, and she never breaks her marriage vows, either during the betrothal or during the marriage. I also like the way Lancelot is depicted. He is more human; he is not the font of virtue he is depicted as in other versions of the legend. His association first with Guinevere and then with Arthur has an enobling effect on him, making him a better man at the end of the film than at the beginning. Also, the evil knight Malagant is played wonderfully by Ben Cross.

The Bad: Where in the world did they get those hideous royal blue uniforms? They look like something out of a Star Trek movie (or TV series). It is unusual that costuming makes or breaks a film, but these awful costumes almost single-handedly destroyed the film and any credibility it might have had. I was trying to watch the film and I kept being distracted by how terrible those blue uniforms were. The other thing was, Camelot seriously needs a new head of security. First, they nearly let Guinvere be captured on her trip to Camelot to be married, then they let her be effortlessly kidnapped from Camelot, whisked away as if by magic, then they let Malagant’s army waltz right into the city without a fight. Hello? King Arthur wouldn’t have lived long enough to have gray hair if he was this sloppy about security.

Still, I felt the good outweighed the bad in this interesting retelling of the Camelot legend.

First Knight (Special Edition) [Blu-ray] Specifications

1995 had already seen the box-office success of sword-wielding heroes in Rob Roy and Braveheart when along came this glossy revision of the Arthurian legend, in which Lady Guinevere (Julia Ormond) is torn between her love for the noble King Arthur (Sean Connery) and the passionate knight Sir Lancelot (Richard Gere). As the story opens, Guinevere’s lands are under attack by the evil knight Malagant (Ben Cross), and she must choose between marriage to Arthur and the security of Camelot, or encouraging the affections of Lancelot, who has heroically rescued her from a potentially lethal attack. Anyone looking for meticulous medieval authenticity won’t find it here, but director Jerry Zucker (Ghost) keeps the action moving with exuberant spirit and glorious production values. Even if you don’t completely believe Richard Gere as a somewhat too-contemporary Lancelot, the performances of Ormond and especially Connery are effortlessly appealing. –Jeff Shannon

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