DATE REVIEWED: 8/18/25
TITLE: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
BOX OFFICE RATED: PG-13 (This is not suitable for GOD’s children.)
PRODUCTION YEAR: 2017 Warner Bros. Pictures / Village Roadshow Pictures / Weed Road Pictures / Safehouse Pictures / Ritchie/Wigram Productions / RatPac-Dune Entertainment
RATING [1 LEAST FAVORITE TO 5 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED]: 1
REASON: This movie began in Britain, where the humans and the mages (magicians) used to live alongside each other in peace until the evil sorcerer Mordred and his army appeared. The wicked ones destroyed bridges, walls and everything in their path using dark magic and giant war elephants created and controlled by Mordred’s powers in order to rule Camelot. Camelot’s King Uther Pendragon insisted on joining the fight and rode his white horse off a cliff. He jumped onto one of the pyramids, as his horse fell to its death. The pyramid held soldiers insdie and was carried on the back of a gigantic war elephant. Inside the pyramid, King Uther confronted Mordred. At the same time, Uther and Mordred’s armies clashed in a violent battle. As it happened, King Uther killed Mordred with his magical sword. The magically controlled elephants snapped out of their trance and the beasts along with Mordred’s soldiers fell to their deaths, which gave King Uther of Camelot the victory. However, Uther’s madman unstable brother Vortigern, who had studied under Mordred at one time, then ordered the slaughter of all the mages. Sir Bedivere protested because the war was Mordred’s fault only and not the doing of his people, so King Uther instructed his brother Vortigern to stop the killings. The sorcerer Merlin had given King Uther his magical sword, but now Merlin and his mages were running to save their lives and somewhere in a hideout far from the kingdom away from evil Vorigern’s reach. Later that night after the meeting, jealous, crazed, and power hungry Vortigern planned to murder his brother King Uther and take the throne. Vortigern first took his wife Elsa into the lower level of a tower and stabbed her to death as Vortigern’s personal soldiers killed all of Uther’s guards that were loyal to the king. King Uther suspected his brother’s plotting and took his own wife, Igraine, and young son, Arthur (under five years old), out to a boat so they could flee to safety. Vortigern then transformed into a fiery demon knight and threw a spear through his sister-in-law Igraine to kill her in front of her young son (nephew) Arthur, who was being held in brother King Uther’s arms. Before Uther was also killed, he sent Arthur down the river in the boat (like Moses) and he washed ashore in the city of Londinium, where he was found by three prostitutes doing their laundry at the water’s edge. The females then took Arthur to their brothel, where the prostitutes raised him there through adulthood. He collected coins wherever he could by doing chores for the women and others and often stole from distracted rich people. He hid them in a secret place and was also witness to the abuse going on inside the house when the men visited the harlots. Meanwhile, Vortigern crowned himself king of Britain. Through the years, bullies on the street often beat Arthur, so Kung-Fu George, a Chinese man who owned a martial arts studio, trained Arthur in kung fu and sword fighting. When Arthur was a teenager, he fought the men who beat up the prostitutes and kicked them out of the house because he was obligated to protect the ones that gave him a home. He grew into an adult and had nightmares about his parents’ death that happened back in Camelot on the dock when he was younger. Soon after, the river in Camelot dried up, and the magic sword in the stone called Excalibur was revealed and groups of men fought over it trying to remove it. Vortigern again visited the water area at ground zero underneath the tower and consulted the Syrens, three female half-human and half-octopus like creatures. They explained that the water levels dropped and the sword was revealed because it was time for Arthur to become king now that he was grown up. Vortigern argued that he made a deal with the Syrens that he would be king if he killed his wife, but the covenant was not met because he left Arthur alive. In order for Vortigern to remain king and have the sword answer only to him, he had to find and kill Arthur. The Syrens reminded Vortigen that he would have to sacrifice the life of another bloodline family member if he requested additional help from them. Vortigern’s soldiers showed up at Arthur’s brothel home looking for Goosefat Bill, a member of the resistance who attacked King Vortigern’s barge. Blackleg sergeant Jack’s Eye, good friend of Arthur, dismissed his soldiers after one solider complained he was touched by Arthur and the official in charge blackleg Jack told the other blackleg he was lucky because usually he would have to pay (implying Arthur was a gay man).Jack Eye’s and his men with Arthur’s permission searched for Bill inside the brothel and Jack Eye explained that Bill would be tortured and killed once he was found and anyone who helped hide him would suffer the same fate. Arthur was hiding Bill and denied that anyone was there, but then Arthur gave wounded Bill up to Jack Eye’s soldiers. Jack interrogated Arthur about the rebel graffiti in the village consisting of a cross and a circle symbol and a bull’s head, and also about the Viking Graybeard who Arthur stole money from to give to the prostitute Lucy after Graybeard beat her up. Arthur told Jack what happened from the beginning when he and his friends, Back Lack and Wet Stick, went to help Chinese George who was having trouble with the Vikings. They encountered Flat-Nosed Mike, who was trafficking furs without paying a commission as usual. Mike was also doing some other shady fur business, so Mike paid Arthur and company extra money so they would keep quiet. Jack got off track, so Arthur reminded Jack that they were almost broke from giving a big portion of their money to the needy and giving Jack shares all the time, so they couldn’t give the corrupt official anymore of their stashed cash. Arthur went on with the story, where he caught Back Lack’s son Blue Boy putting graffiti on the walls and added the born king was coming back. Arthur explained that he handled the situation well because he had his boys shot arrows at the Vikings, who were trying on the furs that Mike hid from them. Arthur had held a sword to Graybeard’s throat and stole a year’s worth of wages from him to give to Lucy for the physical and mental damages done to the female. Back Lack made Blue Boy clean up his graffiti, and Arthur thought it was mission accomplished. However, Jack in charge then revealed that the Vikings were under the king’s protection and not even Jack could help Arthur now. Maggie, a member of one of the oldest English families in England, who represented the people, assured Vortigern that she loved King Vortigern and therefore the people did as well despite their uprising and negative graffiti against him. Paranoid and mass murderer Vortigern used his black magic to light a candle and instructed for the tower he was building to be finished. That night, Arthur had another nightmare from when he was a small child about his parents’ traumatic bloody deaths. He was then awoken by Lack, who helped him to escape out the window from the Blackleg soldiers who were hunting him down to make an example out of him for attacking the Vikings under King Vortigern’s charge. Arthur didn’t get far before he encountered the king’s soldiers, who stopped him and examined his wrist for his tattoo brand mark on his wrist. Arthur hadn’t been branded yet, so he was taken aboard a barge full of other men to get branded. The barge sailed to Camelot, where the king’s men had dozens of children locked up in cages. Arthur learned that King Vortigern got the loyalty of the parents by stealing their kids away and using them as he saw fit such as selling the children as slaves to other countries. The males took turns trying to pull the sword out of the stone, and when they couldn’t they recited the phrase “God save the king” and were branded to show that they tried and failed. Arthur cut in line to have his turn, and the mocking king’s soldiers dismissed Arthur until he succeeded in removing the sword from the stone. Arthur passed out afterward but then woke up chained in the dungeon of Camelot. King Vortigern was warned by his men to handle the situation with kid gloves because Arthur had many people in his pocket including some Blacklegs. Vortigen paid a visit to Arthur in his cell and explained that while he was asleep, the king’s men raided the brothel, stole all of Arthur’s money he had saved and hurt the women. Arthur argued that he was just the son of a prostitute, but Vortigen didn’t believe it and knew Arthur had been saving up for something. King Vortigen refused to let Arthur leave and go back to being his street urchin self. Mage then visited Bedivere. Mage reported directly to Merlin and told him that it was up to her and Bedivere to do Merlin’s bidding. The whole kingdom gathered outside the castle to hear King Vortigen’s twisted facts. Vortigen told Arthur that the thousands of people may have come to see Arthur, but in the end they would leave after seeing that Arthur was a deceitful traitor. Vortigen hoped that the people would then hate and fear him, which would give him more power that he found intoxicatingly delightful. The prostitutes were brought there as captives, and Lucy was killed in front of Arthur with a knife to her throat. Vortigen told Arthur that the rest of the prostitutes would also be killed if he didn’t play along with the staged drama Vortigern had set up to make himself look good in the people’s eyes. When asked to take the sword, Arthur refused and looked like a coward in front of the crowd. He was put on the head chopping block, but then Mage summoned a giant eagle that prevented the executioner from killing Arthur. Mage used sorcery to paralyze Vortigen and make the dogs go crazy and attack the king’s men. A few members of the resistance then freed Arthur and grabbed the sword, and they and Mage fled as others fought off the soldiers. Arthur and his rescuers then jumped off the cliff into the river below. They washed up ashore and set off on horseback across the countryside with Arthur bound as a captive. He identified Mage as a magician because she had a way with animals. Arthur was brought to the cave hideout of the resistance members led by Sir Bedivere. Arthur badmouthed everybody there, but they explained that his house was gone and they were his family now even though Arthur pointed out that Bedivere couldn’t be his dad because he was black and Arthur was white. The men drew Arthur into a fight to see what he could do with the sword, but then he had an issue with a demon creature and his dad telling him to run. Arthur blacked out again, and as he slept Mage used her magic on the sword trying to get into Arthur’s head and see his memories to find out why he was resisting the sword. Mage told Bedivere to take Arthur to the Darklands so he could learn to control Excalibur by breaking down his old thinking process and making him want to be king and lead the people. Bedivere agreed and dropped Arthur off on the island where he was instructed to touch the sword to the altar stone. Arthur was left alone to survive and battle vicious creatures like giant bats, snakes and rats that attacked him. Arthur found the altar stone, and when the sword touched the stone Arthur remembered the rest of what happened in his past. After Igraine was killed. Uther fought with the demon knight using his sword Excalibur during the battle but the sword went flying toward the boy. Young Arthur picked the sword up and cut his hands when King Uther took the sword and returned to the fight. Uther told Arthur to run, so he got in the boat and watched the mad beast stab Uther. As he was dying, King Uther threw Excalibur into the air and it landed in his own back. He turned to stone, and Vortigern transformed back into his human self as the dock broke from the weight of the stone and Uther’s dead body sank underwater with the sword still in his back, and that was how Excalibur came to be the sword in the stone. Bedivere and Mage retrieved Arthur after he faced his nightmares, and they explained that Vortigern would be granted the same level of power of Mordred once the madman king finished building the Mage Tower in Camelot. Vortigern made a deal with Mordred that they would share power once King Uther was dead, so Vortigern killed all the people that supported Uther. Mordred killed the Mage King and took his staff in order to summon the dark forces and create the war elephants. The great wizard Merlin stole the staff and made Excalibur out of it. Merlin destroyed the tower and gave the sword to the Lady of the Lake, who ensured that it would only answer to members of the Pendragon bloodline. The sword now belonged to Arthur. Lord Mercia was called into Vortigern’s chambers and explained that the resistance were few and informants were out looking for Arthur. King Vortigern told Mercia to do his f-ing job. Back Lack, Wet Stick and Blue Boy made it to the hideout and informed Arthur that official blackleg Jack turned on Arthur and gave the other Blacklegs a list of everything Arthur loved. The evil kings men then used the list to go after Arthur in that way by burning parts of down Londinium and killing some of the people there associated with Arthur. Arthur, his friends and the resistance turned the tables and figured out that what Vortigern loved most aside from killing Arthur and getting Excalibur was the tower. They plotted to sink Vortigern’s barges full of stones and block the river so the tower couldn’t be completed since he gained more power the higher the tower was built. The resistance then interrupted the supply of child slaves by taking out the guards and freeing the kids to run, and then they delivered a wagonful of brandy to Vortigern’s favorite palace. Once inside, they set fire to the kegs and the stored alcohol building burned down. Later on, Mercia offered more than 10,000 boys under the age of 12 as slaves to Graybeard and the Vikings in return for the help because the boys were young enough to forget their families. Ownership of the north lands was included in the deal, but Graybeard had heard rumors that Vortigern wasn’t the real king and couldn’t barter the boys away. Graybeard and his men were unsure, so they left with their lives while they still could and return to their king. Afterward Vortigern summoned his young teen daughter Katia. Arthur was still having trouble getting through his nightmares with the sword, so Mage told him not to look away because a king looked and a man didn’t and that was the difference between the two. Maggie, a spy on Camelot’s inside, went to the hideout to warn Arthur that Vortigern was meeting with the barons in Londinium in three days, and Bedivere wasn’t pleased that Maggie came there because she was likely followed. Mercia then witnessed how Vortigern used his black magic when the king played with fire. Arthur and the resistance plotted to assassinate Vortigern using an arrow that Goosefat Bill, the best archer in the group, would shoot from a hideout inside a carefully selected building. The team would then make a risky getaway before the Blacklegs at the nearby tavern caught them. King Vortigern figured out that Maggie was working against him because he had spies watching her, so he planned to use her as a pawn to his advantage since she was now more valuable to the resistance than him. When Vortigern’s barge arrived in Londinium, Bill prepared to shoot the man standing in the open dressed as Vortigern. However, Arthur stopped Bill from firing the arrow because he figured that it wasn’t really Vortigern since the king might have figured out Maggie was helping them. Bill didn’t shoot the king imposter and instead fired at Mercia and Clarendon because Bill had grudges against both men. The crowd panicked and the Blacklegs searched for the assassin, so Bill, Arthur and Bedivere left their hideout and mixed with the crowd. The king’s guards stopped them, so they engaged in hand-to-hand combat and then killed the soldiers with their swords. Back Lack was stabbed and ordered the others to run while he stayed behind. Arthur and his group knocked over people in the streets to get to freedom and ruthlessly fought with the Blacklegs they encountered. Arthur was easily found because smoke areas were fired into the area above where Arthur ran around the village. Arthur and gang hid in a house to catch their breath where one member, Rubio, was severely injured. Arthur attacked the guards so the others would have time to get over the wall into Chinese George’s martial arts school. Mage told George to help Arthur and his friends, so George and the kung-fu students helped fend off the king’s guards on the rooftops who were shooting arrows at them. Mage went into a trance and summoned blackbirds to attack the Blacklegs. Arthur ordered his friends to go down the sewer hole to make it to the river, but they all refused because they planned to defend the real king’s life by holding off the fake king’s army. They insisted that Arthur make his escape, and then more Blacklegs stormed the doors the doors of the building. The soldiers and Arthur’s followers engaged in a violent sword-fight, and Arthur stayed behind. One soldier held a knife to Mage’s throat, so Arthur held Excalibur right this time in order to harness the power within to destroy the forces of evil with his magnificent blow. All the Blacklegs were killed while Arthur and his people were the only ones left standing in that area, so they and Arthur escaped down the hole. Blue was worried about his dad Back Lack and ran off to find him, so Arthur’s group waited until dark to see if the two of them would turn up before they left the city. Blue found Lack and helped him get to the safe house. That night, the local delinquint kids left graffiti messages around the city encouraging the townspeople to riot against the fake king’s men. Blue had found Lack and helped him get to the safe house, and then Arthur’s group with young boy Blue left for the boats while Lack stayed behind. King Vortigern and his soldiers appeared and surrounded wounded Lack a minute later and explained that they had followed Blue and Lack to the house earlier that day. They questioned Lack about the assassination attempt while Blue refused to get on the boat without Lack and ran back to the house. Blue, not knowing the evil king and his henchmen were inside, pretended that he was a cleaning boy and didn’t know Lack, so Vortigern held his knife to Lack’s ear. Blue screamed no, and Vortigern knew that Blue was a liar so he cut the boy’s dad’s ear off anyway. Arthur appeared in the doorway and held a knife to the Blackleg leader Mischief John’s throat, and then Lack told Arthur to take Blue and run. Vortigern slit Lack’s throat as his tween son watched, so Arthur dragged Blue to the boat screaming. King Vortigern ordered his Blacklegs to destroy all the resistance members that night, so the army set fire to the city and slaughtered the people in the streets. Arthur’s group sailed away in their boat and returned to the hideout. Arthur had flashbacks of all the people he loved dying and being wounded because of the evil king Vortigern, so Arthur threw Excalibur off a cliff into the water below. The Lady in the Lakespotted the sword. Arthur ran to the water’s edge. Arthur had a vision of the Lady pulling him underwater and showing him the destruction that would unfold in his world if he didn’t accept the sword and trust the Mage so he took back the sword from the lake. Meanwhile, Rubio had been captured and tortured by the Blacklegs and he agreed to tell Vortigern what he wanted to know. Arthur’s men found him, and they informed him that the people were on his side now and were fighting king Vortigern’s evil by rioting throughout the whole country. They encouraged Arthur to end it all and defeat his uncle, so he explained that they would storm the castle through the front door. On their way back to the hideout, Arthur and his group found bodies hanging from the trees in the woods and more people dead inside. Mischief John and the Blacklegs waited for them, and John delivered the message that Mage and Blue would be killed ordered by the king if they didn’t go to the castle before dark. The soldiers left. That night, Bedivere went to the castle alone and gave Vortigern the Excalibur sword. Sir Bedivere requested the release of Mage and Blue since Arthur was a day’s ride away and he was no threat without Excalibur. King Vortigern let only female Mage go but kept male Blue. Mage and Bedivere met back up with Arthur. Mage used her sorcery to summon a snake that bit Arthur in the neck. He would feel the bite for a few hours, but the venom would give him power and enabled him to hallucinate on his journey to the castle. When he arrived on horseback, he was bound and brought to king Vortigern as Mage did her own black magic and sent her eagle to deliver the snake there. Vortigern wanted to hurry up and kill Arthur, so he ordered for Arthur to be on his knees. The snake tried to bite king Vortigern, but he killed it with Excalibur sword by chopping off the head before it could. Mage then sent a giant monster snake to devour Vortigern’s soldiers.Meanwhile, the resistance released all the captives from Vortigern’s prisons so they could help fight. King Vortigern escaped and consulted the Syrens again, and they reminded him that he knew the price. Vortigern then went to his teen daughter Katia’s room, and he told her he loved her and then stabbed his teen daughter to death with a knife like he did his wife. Arthur attacked Vortigern’s army with the inhuman strength that Excalibur gave him, and once he killed a good number of the evil king’s Blackleg soldiers the remaining ones put down their swords and pledged their loyalty to Arthur. The resistance arrived and battled with Vortigern’s men that were against them. Arthur found the stairwell that led to the tower, where Vortigen gave Katia’s body to the queer three female Syrens in the water. Excalibur became electrified and lit up the tower, and then the walls vanished. With greater power from killing off his daughter, Vortigern transformed into his demon self and invited Arthur to play, so the two battled with their swords. Arthur used only one hand on his sword and got his butt kicked before he was knocked out. He had another flashback of his dad’s death with a different outcome, where adult Arthur caught Excalibur before it killed Uther. Uther told Arthur to take the sword because it belonged to him now, and then Arthur woke up. Arthur told Vortigern that he was there because of his evil uncle and now he would kill Vortigern for all the hateful things he did to Arthur, his parents and his loved ones and the lives of so many innocent people that got in the evil psycho’s way. Arthur wielded Excalibur’s immense power to fend off Vortigern and was able to stab him with a sword through his black heart. Arthur kissed Vortigern’s hand to bless him because Vortigern was the devil and the devil lost. Vortigern unknowingly created Arthur to be victorious in spite of the countless ungodly murderous heathen things his mad uncle did to stop him. Vortigern finally died and the fiery tower crumbled down around him. Later on, a ceremony was held to celebrate their victory and remember those that died in battle fighting for their cause. The Vikings appeared and wanted the 10,000 slave boys that Vortigern promised them. Graybeard was turned down, but he reminded Arthur of the 3,000 long ships that surrounded the island and controlling the seas. Arthur told Graybeard to go back to his country and tell his king that England and its subjects must be bowed down to since they no longer needed the Viking’s protection on land or by water. The Vikings knelt down to Arthur and then they all feasted as friends and not enemies. Arthur built a round table to sit at with his friend, and then he put them on their knees. Sir Bedivere knighted George as Sir George, Wet Stick as Sir Tristan and Percy as Sir Percival. Sir William (Bill) used Excalibur to dub Arthur as king of England, and then he was presented to the people and crowned. Female Mage watched from afar on horseback as King Arthur brandished his sword and the crowd cheered. This movie had a budget of $175 million and grossed over $148 million at the box office. The movie cover art listed, Bill Zwecker, FOX-TV “Absolutely spectacular! A brilliant, witty, thrilling epic!”