Film Preview: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)

Page Revisions:

(July 31, 2016) Original
(February 26, 2017) New Trailer (#2) / New Poster (#2)
(April 9, 2017) New Trailer (#3) / New Posters (#3-#6)
(May 7, 2017) New Posters (#7-#12)
(May 14, 2017) Added Image Gallery

Release Date:

March 24, 2017

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “Feature film version of the classic King Arthur story.”

Poster Rating: C / C- (4) / C / C / C / C- / C / C- / B

SEE ALL POSTERS BELOW
Review: (#1) Stoic perhaps, but bland, colorless (albeit intentionally) and lifeless.

(#2) The same issues with the prior poster design are here, though the close up of Charlie Hunnam might encourage his fans to watch it on video.

(#3-#5) These three character posters follow the same design philosophy of poster design #2, which is a colorless exploration of movie sales, something that doesn’t often work. (#6) Slightly more interesting than the predecessors, this still won’t do much to sell the film even with the modestly familiar presence of Hunnam on the poster.

(#7) Statuesque to a fault, this design employs the same color palettes as previous designs while conveying a lightly regal approach. (#8) Somewhat action-oriented, but visually daunted, a blurry mess of a design with an artist trying far too hard to be creative and not succeeding. (#9) A continuation of the prior character set. Nothing new to see here. (#10) There have only been a few colors used in these designs and this one has the most variance to them. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sufficiently add to the tableaux presented. (#11) Similar to design #9 except with a more close-up approach, which is the wrong approach. (#12) While the previous color palettes is still a heavy influence, the infusion of red is interesting and adds visual depth to a design that’s most compelling in its simple, but effective evocation of the film’s plot.

Trailer Rating: D+ / B / C+

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Review: (#1) The pop-infusion of a director like Guy Ritchie might fit better if it weren’t taken so far into the past. The trailer starts off confusingly and poorly directed and finishes out without wrapping up much of the confusion. It also never seems to understand that frenetic construction does not equal anticipatory emotions.

(#2) An intense trailer that creates the setting and gives the audience plenty of drama and excitement to get them interested.

(#3) Sometimes, too much content can be disengaging for a viewer. This trailer goes heavy on the explosions, destruction, and especially magic. It tries very hard to position the film as attractive to fans of Guy Ritchie’s past work, but looking at that past work might not be much of a selling point.