Following the murder of his father by his trusted hand (a brother), his only surviving son grows up in the slums and embraces his true identity as a rightful heir to the throne.
Director Guy Ritchie can turn London crime dramas into cinematic lightning, but apply his fast cuts and jagged pacing to the Arthurian legend and you get, well, a brutal, bleedin' mess.
Ritchie has gleefully set his timeworn characters in an environment where narrative logic has no purchase. One name for this environment is subconscious dreamscape. Another is mosh pit.
Guy Ritchie's reimagining of the King Arthur legend manages to be both action-packed and yet utterly mind-numbing, with a two-hour running time that feels endless.
To that hallowed list of great expensive follies - "John Carter," "Ishtar," "Heaven's Gate" - let us ceremonially add another name: "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword."
