First Knight

First Knight was another recent cinematic experience. I have to say that I didn’t like it any more this time than when I saw it then when it first came out. This is one of the more recent retellings of King Arthur and Camelot. In this version, Sean Connery is Arthur, Richard Gere plays Sir Lancelot, Knight of the Round Table, and Julia Ormond plays the lovely Guinevere. All would be happy in this kingdom if it weren’t for the fact that both Lancelot and Arthur are in love with Guinevere, who just happens to be married to the king. And herein lies the problem with this movie. At its core, it is nothing but a mopey, overly dramatic love story. Sure there are a few action sequences thrown in for good measure, and sure they are rather well done. But the movie always gets back to this melodramatic love triangle between the three principal characters, and that is what kills this movie. Every time we have an especially good action sequence that I enjoyed, it is quickly followed up by sappy sentiment between Gere and Ormond. This movie was trying to be all things to all audience members. We get the sappy romance so it qualifies as a chick flick and gets the females in the theater. Then it tries to throw in a few action bits to try to placate the boyfriend who has been forced to watch this turkey.

Every scene between Gere and Ormond just oozes sap. Richard Gere has had his share of good performances over the years, but this isn’t one of them. The man goes through this movie with a perpetual hangdog look. At any moment I figured he was either going to off himself or get a prescription for Zoloft. Hey, I don’t mind a little romance in a movie. I don’t even mind a little sappy angst mixed in with the romance. But when it is so all-consuming that it wipes out all of the other good points that the movie has; that I do mind.