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BY PEG ALOI
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Hear ye, hear ye: Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) hath directed for your entertainment a bold reimagining of Camelot starring His Handsomeness Clive Owen (Croupier, Gosford Park, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead) as Arthur, here a half-Roman Christian warrior circa AD 500. The film begins as Arthur’s knights return from 15 years of fighting for Rome; their final mission is to rescue a Roman family from invading Saxons, whose commander is played with laconic relish by Stellan Skarsgård. The knights are loyal to pagan Britain and question Arthur’s allegiance to a Christian nation. But then some tattoo’d warriors emerge from the woods — including Guinevere (Keira Knightley), an expert archer, and Merlin (Stephen Dillane), a wild-eyed druid — and Celtophiles get an Arthurian saga they can love. Stellar performances, especially from Open Hearts’ Mads Mikkelsen as Tristan, Ray Winstone as Bors, and Welsh heartthrob Ioan Gruffudd as a recalcitrant Lancelot, outshine a so-so script — but not since 1980 and John Boorman’s Excalibur has this story looked so beautiful on film. (120 minutes)
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