King Arthur (Blu-ray)

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Yet, if you roll with it, there's something fascinating about this version, a gritty survivalist epic about early Britons who have more in common with those kilt-wearing guys in "Braveheart" than they do medieval knights. Stellan Skarsgard plays Cedric, the barbaric leader of the Saxons, with Richard Boone-snarling flair and a gravel voice that sounds as if he's channeling Nick Nolte. But the bad guys are at least interesting to watch, as is Merlin and his Woads. Look for some interesting CGI work as well, with a trek across a mountain lake (where the heck are these guys, anyway?) leading to a fun-to-watch battle. The final battle goes on way too long, and deleted scenes indicate that Fuqua apparently loved graphic violence so much that he would have had these things last days if he thought any of us would sit through it, but there's enough here to make for an interesting evening of movie-watching.

If the historical vs. legendary Arthur piques your interest, check out the reading list that DVD Town's John J. Puccio assembled in a previous review.

Video:
Though the exteriors were filmed under the mists and grey skies of Ireland and Wales, the picture looks crystal clear, with great levels of detail, despite the subdued palette. The 1080p picture is presented in 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

Audio:
The featured soundtrack is an expansive English PCM 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) uncompressed audio that fills the room with sound. There's plenty of ambient action on the rear speakers, not just during battle scenes, but even at moments of rest. A pure- and clear-sounding audio, with additional options in English, French, and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 and subtitles in English SDH, French, and Spanish.

Extras:
Comparatively speaking, the extras are slight. The commentary by director Antoine Fuqua is pretty standard--worth a listen, but not earthshaking. One short featurette in the 20-minute range on "Blood on the Land: Forging King Arthur" integrates clips of the film with behind-the-scenes shots and talking heads interviews, including armourers, costume designers, military advisors, and visual effects supervisors. Content-wise, there's nothing of great depth, though. In fact, it feels more like a promo for the film. That sense is all but confirmed when you watch the other short featurette, a cast/filmmaker "roundtable" with producer Jerry Bruckheimer acting as moderator. Sitting around the table in chairs with ancient shields on the sides are Fuqua, writer David Franzoni, and stars Keira Knightley, Clive Owen, Ioan Gufffud and Hugh Dancy. It's a casual little chat that erupts, occasionally, into laughter. It's interesting to hear that the filmmakers thought they were making an origin movie about an Arthur who was (as the early Arthur was rumored to have been) stationed at a Roman garrison near Hadrian's wall.

Rounding out the extras are an alternate ending (which, if it's really one that Fuqua preferred, kind of makes you wonder why it's not in this Director's Cut) and a producer's photo gallery.

Bottom Line:
It's a bloody, barbaric version of Arthur that we see, a leader who's really not a king at all, but the leader of a Roman garrison in 4th-century Britain. There's no Guinevere-Lancelot-Arthur triangle (just implied desire on Lancelot's part), and Guinevere is as unqueenly as it gets, dappled with mud and war-paint and running across the field in battle in a shot reminiscent of Mel Gibson in "Braveheart." Get past the oddity of this version and ignore the shortcomings, and it's worth watching . . . and even adding to your collection, if you're a fan of adventure/epics.

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