The Arthurian legend, the story of Camelot, is one of the tales that has remained in our culture over the course of centuries. It has been adapted to virtually every medium and with varying degrees of success.
One of the more recent, high-profile adaptations is First Knight, directed by Jerry Zucker (Ghost). Originally released in 1995, the film has finally made its way to DVD in a "Special Edition."
Rather than focusing on Arthur's rise to power and completely eliminating the magical element (no mention of Merlin is made), the film instead refashions the love triangle between Arthur (Sean Connery), Guinevere (Julia Ormond), and Lancelot (Richard Gere).
The movie opens with Camelot and the neighboring kingdoms being threatened by Malagant (Ben Cross), a former knight of Arthur's Round Table. Guinevere, as the ruler of a land bordering Camelot, is engaged to Arthur. She is truly in love with him, but the marriage will also help protect her countrymen from Malagant's attacks. Guinevere encounters Lancelot on her way to Camelot (he saves her from Malagant's men), and the romance soon blooms.
The rest of the movie features Lancelot coming into his own as a knight, Guinevere struggling with her love for both men, and Arthur trying to protect his bride from the forces of evil.
The film contains enough battles, sword fighting, and peril to keep the audience relatively amused, but the more drama-based aspects of the feature fall flat. The love between Arthur and Guinevere feels very forced, and despite the movie's efforts to explain how the young lady fell for the older man, it never quite seems believable. Her love for Lancelot is more plausible, but Gere never looks comfortable as Lancelot, which throws the love story off-kilter once more. He seems terribly middle-aged to be such a wonderful, and yet unknown, swordsman at the start of the movie and does little to convince the audience that he is worthy of either Arthur's trust and friendship or Guinevere's love.
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