Genre Guesstimation – First Knight (1995)

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s genre has been chosen by J-Dub of Dubsism and we will be reviewing our favorite Movies featuring Royalty

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of May by sending them to royaljdub@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box! Great choice J-Dub!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Movies featuring Royalty.…

“Lancelot, just a thought. A man who fears nothing is a man who loves nothing; and if you love nothing, what joy is there in your life? I may be wrong.” – Arthur

Number of Times Seen – 1 (1 May 2019)

Brief Synopsis – AS a corrupt Knight tries to take over Camelot, Lancelot falls in love with Arthur’s betrothed causing lots of problems in the Kingdom.

My Take on it – This is a film that I heard a little about over the years but never had the desire to see what it was all about.

When J-Dub chose this genre for this month, I thought it would be a great opportunity to see what it was all about.

Unfortunately, this is an extremely boring and silly interpretation of the Arthurian Legend and tale of the love triangle between Arthur, Guenevere and Lancelot.

The catsing of this film was the very first mistake made and they do a terrible job choosing the three lead characters as well as the villain.

Sean Connery, Richard Gere and Julia Ormond are all great actors but none of them work in these roles.

Ben Cross as the villain is also a mistake since he comes across as comical when he tries to be menacing.

Gere is the biggest miscast here since he seems farcical in the role of Lancelot instead of chivalrous and fearless.

There is no chemistry what so ever between the leads and the fact that they are supposedly in a love triangle is so hard to believe since they aren’t able to make us feel it through their performances.

The action scenes are executed quite poorly and that also takes so much away from this version of the famous story.

There are so many more films with this theme that present things much better and this is quite a boring version of that legend.

Bottom Line – Really boring and silly presentation of the Arthurian legend. The casting of this film is terrible and even the three leads who are solid actors come across really poorly in these roles. Gere is the worst of the trio and feels the most miscast and actually seems quite farcical in the role of Lancelot. There is no chemistry between any of the leads and the fact that they are supposedly in a love triangle seems absurd because it can’t be felt by their performances. The action is presented really poorly and there are so many other films dealing with this subject that do it so much better because this was such a bore to watch unfold.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Richard Gere was widely felt to be too old, and too obviously American to play Lancelot, as well as unconvincing in a historical action movie. (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Not even close. This is a farce of the Arthurian legend and even with such a talented cast it doesn’t work at all.

Rating – Razzie Worthy (3/10)