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King Arthur - The Director's Cut (Widescreen Edition) by Antoine Fuqua
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DVD detailsActor: Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd, Keira Knightley, Mads Mikkelsen, Stephen Dillane Director: Antoine Fuqua Brand: KNIGHTLEY,KEIRA Producer: Bruce Moriarty Producer: Chad Oman Producer: James Flynn Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer Producer: Mike Stenson Producer: Morgan O'Sullivan Writer: David Franzoni DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Latin (Original Language); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled) Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Director's Cut, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, THX, Widescreen Picture Format: 2.35:1 Running Time: 126 minutes DVD Release Date: 2004-12-21 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Studio: Touchstone / Disney
DVD Reviews of King Arthur - The Director's Cut (Widescreen Edition)DVD Review: lovingranny60 Summary: 5 StarsExcellent movie. Came in excellent condition and we have watched it several times already. Would recommend it highly to anyone.
DVD Review: Terrific Film - Very Poor DVD Release Decisions Summary: 5 StarsThe theatrical version of this movie is one of my absolute favorites of all time -- ever. It's well written, well acted, with astounding music by Hans Zimmer, and is in short a much better version of "King Arthur" than so much of the other "King Arthur" films that have been done over the years.
The decision to only release the theatrical version of the film in a "full screen" format, on the other hand, was one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard of... ever. I very much enjoy watching my hi-def home theater system, because the picture quality is so much better than at most theaters, the sound is always fantastic, and you don't have to deal with rowdy crowds. But watching the theatrical version in "full screen" is rather irritating, and it's even more irritating that a 16x9 widescreen enhanced format release of the theatrical version has never been released since then. A ridiculously poor decision by everyone involved.
In short, I would be 100% happy with the DVD release if the theatrical version was made available in widescreen.
DVD Review: Magnificent Seven of the Round Table Summary: 4 StarsThis version of King Arthur is a lot of fun. As has been previously mentioned, it is no retelling of the myth as per Tom Malory, but really a loose retelling of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai in an Arthurian setting. There are seven Sarmatian Knights (Arthur, Bors, Lancelot, Gawaine, Dagonet, Tristan and Galahad) sent on a dangerous mission to rescue a Roman family from the Saxons and later help defeat the Saxon army at Badon Hill. The names of the knights do not reflect their mythic counterparts, but there are nods to some of them. Galahad is the Christian knight, Lancelot likes sleeping with other men's wives, Arthur is the idealistic leader. There are also fun nods to the mythic elements of the story, such as the sword in the stone, Merlin, the round table, as well.
The villains are fun as well. Cerdic, the Saxon leader, seems to be suffering from terrible ennui for most of the story until he meets Arthur dace to face. "Ah, finally a man worth killing!"
The film looks a treat and GENERALLY appears accurate, with a few deliberate anachronisms. The stirrup debate rages on, as well as the crossbow argument, but the most noticable inaccuracy is the fantasy armour that the knights wear in the final battle. Personally, I love their look, but you won't find it in any history book, blending as it does the dark ages and 15th century harness. Its a deliberate decision, rather than a mistake, as opposed to the costumes in 13th Warrior which seemed to have been put together by a madman.
Oh and the battle scenes are great!
DVD Review: Amazing sound Summary: 4 Starsthe sound on Blu-ray is amazing--but I'm unimpressed with the video, although King Arthur is better than some. When you start with an HD tv, it's already so much better that the BR doesn't add that much--but the surround sound........oh boy.....!
DVD Review: 3 stars out of 4 Summary: 3 StarsThe Bottom Line:
A good cast helps elevate this mostly forgettable story of King Arthur into a story worth watching--by no means a terribly good movie, it's at least an enjoyable one.
Description of King Arthur - The Director's Cut (Widescreen Edition)King Arthur the Extended Unrated Director's Cut contains fourteen minutes of never-before-seen footage, including more intense battle sequences and the scenes "Rain and Snow" and "Saxons Surrounded." Bonus Features . Alternate Ending "Badon Hill" With Optional Director Commentary . Blood On The Land: Forging King Arthur . Cast And Filmmaker Round Table . Director Commentary . "Knight Vision" Trivia Track . Producer's Photo Gallery . Konami's King Arthur Playable Xbox Demo It's got a round table, some knights, and a noble warrior who rises to become King Arthur, but everything else about this revisionist legend is pure Hollywood. That's not such a bad thing if you enjoyed Rob Roy, Braveheart, Gladiator, and Troy, and there's some intriguing potential in presenting the "real" Arthur (played by Clive Owen) as a 5th-century soldier of Rome, assigned to defend Roman-imperial England against a hoard of invading Saxons (led by Stellan Skarsg?rd in hairy villain mode). As revamped history and "archaeological findings" would have us believe, Guinevere (Keira Knightley) is a warrior babe in face-paint and Lancelot (Ioan Gruffudd) is a nonentity who fades into the woodwork. Never mind! Best to enjoy the harsh, gloomy atmosphere of Irish locations, the ruggedness of Owen and his hearty supporting cast, and the entertaining nonsense of a Jerry Bruckheimer production that strips battle-ready Guinevere down to leather-strap S&M gear while all the men sport full-body armor. Hail to the queen, indeed! --Jeff Shannon
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