First Knight (1995)

reviewed by
Chuck Dowling

                                FIRST KNIGHT
                       A film review by Chuck Dowling
                        Copyright 1995 Chuck Dowling

I remember hearing the King Arthur legend as a kid. The one thing I remember most was Merlin the magician. Maybe I am ignorant to the timeline of the tales of King Arthur and his men, but Merlin should have been in FIRST KNIGHT. He could have given poor Richard Gere an accent, a new expression for Julia Ormond, and a way out for Sean Connery.

Seriously, just picture this movie with Merlin's character, if only to lighten the tone. You cast Alan Arkin in the part, have him doing various wacky things throughout, and then at least you have some entertaining moments, something that FIRST KNIGHT is sorely lacking.

Basically what we've got here with FIRST KNIGHT is "Legends of the Fall: The Armor Years". I didn't care for LEGENDS OF THE FALL (hmmm, how odd that Julia Ormond was in both) and that's all this movie reminded me of. I hate it in movies when one person loves another person, yet that person loves another just a wee bit more, even though there's nothing wrong with the first person. That kind of conflict doesn't entertain me.

I also have yet to enjoy Richard Gere in any movie. After checking his filmography, I realized that out of all of the films he has done, only INTERNAL AFFAIRS is halfway decent. All the rest are exactly the same. In FIRST KNIGHT, he wanders through his performance with an American accent, and a face that suggests that he might either cry or kill someone at any moment.

Overall, I will just say that FIRST KNIGHT is slow, predictable, and at times, laughable. Makes you wonder if director Jerry Zucker of AIRPLANE! and THE NAKED GUN fame filmed two movies at once. This one, and a parody of it and at times some footage from the latter slipped into this one.

RATING:  ** out of ****

Here are my summer ratings in order of Best to Worst:
CRIMSON TIDE - ***
DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE - ***
FRENCH KISS - **1/2
APOLLO 13 - **1/2
SPECIES - **
FIRST KNIGHT - **
BATMAN FOREVER - **
JUDGE DREDD - **

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