Ultra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Robbed of his birthright when his father is murdered by his uncle and ascends to the throne, Arthur somehow escapes. He’s found floating down the Thames by some prostitutes doing their laundry, and the young man ends up being raised in a brothel and learns how to survive on the streets of the big city until that fateful day he pulls Excalibur from the stone.

Five minutes into this film, I was ready to turn it off—yes, it was that bad of an opening. Thankfully, it overcomes the rocky start to a certain degree and goes from unwatchable to mildly entertaining if you can stomach the roll-your-eyes moments. Guy Ritchie films are usually slick and feature plenty of interesting dialogue and editing, which is what you get here in spurts, but even at its best, it can’t overcome its shortcomings from the story and haphazardly directed action scenes.

Shot on 3.4K cameras and finished in 2K for its theatrical run, the UHD Blu-ray sports an upconverted 4K image that shows some minor improvement from the fabulous-looking Blu-ray. Detail in clothing and facial textures are slightly more revealing in 4K, and the shadows are better resolved. The application of HDR is well done with some streaks of bright light and bursting flames when Arthur finally battles his evil uncle.

The Dolby Atmos track isn’t as aggressive as other films in the action genre, but it has some moments that make you sit up and take notice. One such scene is the horrific opening that features some giant ele- phants wreaking havoc on the kingdom. You can feel every thunderous footfall as they move toward the castle and crush anything in their way, with the building’s stone structures collapsing throughout the room. Dialogue is concise and intelligible, so you can clearly hear all the cringe-worthy moments.

The supplements are housed on the bundled Blu-ray, which includes the usual assortment of production featurettes with the cast and crew patting each other on the back for a job well done. Ritchie waxes poetic about his 21st-century version of Camelot and Charlie Hunnam’s portrayal of King Arthur. The production featurettes include one on the building of the myth- ical Londinium, and the other looks at the numerous stunts in the film. In addi- tion to the discs, there’s also an UltraViolet Digital Copy.

Despite its flaws, there were parts of the film that I enjoyed, but I’m not sure it’s something I’ll ever watch again. I prefer my classic stories to remain as intended.

Blu-Ray
Studio: Warner, 2017
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Audio Format: Dolby Atmos / True HD 7.1 core
Length: 126 mins.
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Eric Bana