King Arthur: Legend of the Sword Is a Medieval Mess

There’s a lot to be said for putting a revisionist spin on a well-known tale. Do it properly, and you can lure new fans into an established mythology while unearthing hitherto hidden depths of stories that had long since seemed to reveal themselves completely. So while the saga of King Arthur didn’t exactly seem to be crying out for the modern action thriller treatment, there was reason for filmgoers to at least be cautiously optimistic about this weekend’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword — it’s one of the most durable (and widely disseminated) legends in the Western lexicon, and Sherlock Holmes director Guy Ritchie has proven himself a capable hand with this sort of thing in the past. Unfortunately, it sounds like it’s time to lower yon expectations, friends: critics say that in attempting to meld swords ‘n’ sorcery with gritty, rapid-edit action, Ritchie’s left audiences with a noisy, muddled mess. As Arthur, Charlie Hunnam does more or less what the movie calls for, and there’s the germ of an intriguing idea in making the future king a charming ruffian, but it never amounts to much in the way of compelling cinema. While Legend of the Sword sounds like it might do in a pinch as a rental on a rainy afternoon, and Hunnam fans will certainly end up checking it out, it doesn’t seem like it’ll be joining the ranks of box office royalty.

Amy Schumer’s ribald yet refreshingly honest brand of humor has often made her a critics’ darling over the last few years — as well as the sort of rising star with enough Hollywood mojo to cajole a beloved yet long-absent entertainer (like, say, Goldie Hawn) out of retirement and back onto the big screen for a good old-fashioned buddy picture. The duo seemed like a lock for a laugh riot in Snatched, which finds them playing mother and daughter on an exotic vacation that starts with an embarrassing heartbreak and only goes downhill from there. With all that talent on the screen — and 50/50 director Jonathan Levine working from a script by Katie Dippold (The Heat) — the end result should be a critical smash, right? Well… maybe not. Reviews describe a movie that has its moments, as well as a couple of likable leads, but is never consistently funny enough to justify the attention; more problematically, Schumer’s still basically riffing on the same shtick that made her famous, and it’s lost some of its luster. Here’s hoping these two reconnect with a better script at some point; in the meantime, you can content yourself with any of Goldie Hawn’s best movies and the first few seasons of Inside Amy Schumer.

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Sense8 maintains its stunning visuals, Wachowski wackiness, and great heart — though its individual characters deserve more development.