Tags
Charlie Hunnam, Guy Ritchie, King Arthur, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Medieval England, Medieval Europe
The first trailer for Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword has dropped. Charlie Hunnam is playing Arthur.
Take a look.
It’s pretty clear that the film has approximately 0 interest in anything to do with history or the literary King Arthur. Just a few points worth making:
The primary location seems to be some sort of late medieval castle-cum-Roman fort located on a high cliff. No such location ever existed, although some 11th century castles did incorporate surviving Roman walls.
The armor is totally crack-addled.
The Sword in the Stone is a 21st century fantasy version of a high medieval-style sword, perhaps 12th or 13th century, apparently circulating in 6th century Britain. It has faux-Norse runes on it, which makes no sense in a pre-Viking Age Britain.
Arthur is wearing an early 21st century hairstyle.
Arthur was “raised on the streets”, an impressive accomplishment in 6th century Britain, since there were no cities in Britain at the time.
There are giant elephants wandering around. That’s nonsense. Everyone knows giant elephants died out in the Roman era.
