First Knight (1995)

So last night I watched First Knight which for some reason I remembered as being an ok film from when I originally saw it. How wrong I was.

Time has not been kind to this one. The whole movie is presented like a complete fairytale and as such cannot be recommended to anyone but the most undemanding of teenage girls.
Julia Ormond is Guinevere who is on her way to be betrothed to King Arthur when she is ambushed by the evil Sir Malagant. To the rescue comes Lancelot who she dislikes at first but later she begins to ......... zzzzzzz

We've seen all this before and done better than it is here. Excalibur (1981) and King Arthur (1995) are the first ones that spring to mind. There's nothing wrong with the fairytale approach per se but it rarely works outside of animation and the settings here are completely unconvincing. This must be the cleanest representation of medieval times you are ever likely to see. The castle has a shine to it that makes the castle in the Walt Disney logo look like it needs a new coat of paint.

In truth, Julia Ormond (whatever happened to her?) isn't bad as Guinevere and neither is Sean Connery as King Arthur (though you get the feeling he knows all this is beneath him). Sadly, Richard Gere is hopelessly miscast as Lancelot. His mannerisms and approach are so incongruous that you wonder how far down the list they got before they offered the part to him. The role is crying out for director Jerry Zucker to have taken a chance on a young actor of the day.

Zucker got the gig on the back of his box office success with "Ghost" (another film that has not dated well). He keeps the film moving at a fair pace but at the expense of any kind of depth or genuine interest. No wonder he didn't direct another film until 2001 (the even worse "Rat Race").

There are a few highlights dotted around, notably a scene in which Lancelot is challenged to navigate an obstacle course. The best moment, though, was realising it was Chris Finch from The Office (aka Ralph Ineson) as the bad guy's chief henchman.

So we have Ormond finding herself drawn to Gere (old enough to be her father) when she is supposed to be marrying Connery (old enough to be her grandfather). The whole thing is, to be honest, slightly uncomfortable and ultimately forgettable.

HoganMonkey rates First Knight five out of ten on the banana scale.