KING ARTHUR-EXTENDED UNRATED DIRECTORS CUT (BR) DVD

King Arthur
An ambitious attempt to wed the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table with known historical facts of the era, this action adventure drama begins with the fall of the Roman Empire in 450 A.D. as Roman armies flee the British Isles. Arthur (Clive Owen), a heroic knight and devoted Christian, is torn between his desire to travel to Rome to serve his faith and his loyalty to the land of his birth. As England falls into lawlessness, Arthur throws in his lot with a band of knights who hope to restore order to their fair and pleasant land and hopes to win freedom for his comrades, among them Lancelot (Ioan Gruffudd), Galahad (Hugh Dancy), Tristan (Mads Mikkelsen), Gawain (Joel Edgerton), Bors (Ray Winstone), and Dagonet (Ray Stevenson). In time, Arthur and his men join forces with Merlin (Stephen Dillane), a shaman whose band of renegade knights were often pitched in battle against Roman forces. Forming a united front as loyal Englishmen against the invading Saxon armies, Arthur, Merlin, and the brave and beautiful Guinevere (Keira Knightley) are determined to unite a sovereign Britain under one army and one king. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Cast Clive Owen as Artorious Castus Keira Knightley as Guinevere Ioan Gruffudd as Lancelot Stephen Dillane as Merlin Stellan Skarsgård as Cerdic Ray Winstone as Bors Hugh Dancy as Galahad Til Schweiger as Cynric Mads Mikkelsen as Tristan Ray Stevenson as Dagonet Ken Stott as Marius Honorius Charlie Creed-Miles as Ganis Joel Edgerton as Gawain Sean Gilder as Jols Ivano Marescotti as Bishop Germanius Lorenzo De Angelis as Alecto

Crew Anna Rackard - Supervising Art Director James Flynn - Associate Producer Pat Sandston - Associate Producer Paul Tucker - Associate Producer Morgan O'Sullivan - Associate Producer Ronna Kress - Casting Michelle Guish - Casting Penny Rose - Costume Designer Bruce G. Moriarty - First Assistant Director Antoine Fuqua - Director Kirk R. Gardner - Second Unit Director Jamie Pearson - Editor Conrad Buff - Editor Ned Dowd - Executive Producer Mike Stenson - Executive Producer David H. Franzoni - Executive Producer Chad Oman - Executive Producer Hans Zimmer - Composer (Music Score) Neil Corbould - Makeup Special Effects Dan Weil - Production Designer Slawomir Idziak - Cinematographer Jerry Bruckheimer - Producer Kevin O'Connell - Sound Mixer Peter Devlin - Sound/Sound Designer Steve Dent - Stunts Coordinator John Lee Hancock - Screenwriter David H. Franzoni - Screenwriter Matt Johnson - Visual Effects Supervisor Neil Corbould - Special Effects Coordinator Eddy Joseph - Supervising Sound Editor Lon Bender - Supervising Sound Editor Cinesite Limited - Visual Effects Olivia Bloch-Laine - Set Decorator

King Arthur
Marketed as a more historically accurate version of the Camelot mythos than previous incarnations, King Arthur is a complicated hash of fact and fiction. Screenwriter David Franzoni and director Antoine Fuqua attempt to graft latter-day theories about Arthur's possible real-life identity as a Roman cavalryman named Artorious Castus (Clive Owen) onto the most famous elements of the beloved legend. The filmmakers preserve the existence of Guinevere (Keira Knightley) and Merlin (Stephen Dillane), this time as Woad tribal leaders at war on two fronts against the invading Saxons and retreating Romans. They endeavor to explain the close kinship among Artorious' followers by identifying them as Salmatian cavalrymen, an allegedly elite corps conflicted by opposing allegiances. And they delve into the religious, ethical, racial, political, and philosophical tensions between these various factions. As might be expected, explaining all of these complicated machinations requires an unfortunate amount of exposition, after which an audience may be too baffled to notice some gripping sequences, particularly a tense skirmish ingeniously executed across the cracking ice of a frozen lake. His previous script for Gladiator (2000) used history as an interesting backdrop for a wholly invented story, but here Franzoni's clever concept is hidebound by his effort to modulate his sources, with murky results. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
 

(no awards)

General Specifications: Language Options: English, French, Spanish Subtitle Options: English, French, Spanish Sound Processing: DD5.1: Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel Additional Features: Backstage - Blood on the Land: Forging King Arthur King Arthur: A Roundtable discussion Alternate ending "Badou Hill", with director's commentary Producer's photo gallery "Knight Vision" pop-up trivia track Movie Showcase Seamless menus DVD Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1: Cinemascope MPAA Rating: DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: ABC Content Length: 139 min