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Prince Valiant (1997)

Director: Anthony Hickox

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From Time Out Film Guide

The Camelot squire Segue (Moyer) jousts in the armour of Sir Gawain (Hickox) in defence of his fallen master's reputation: watching the display is King Arthur (Fox) and his charge, slender Princess Ilene of Wales (Heigl). Bu then villains escape with Excalibur. Blaming the Scots, Arthur dispatches his lieutenants to do battle, and entrusts Segue with Ilene's safe passage home. The real culprits, however, are the Barbarians of Thule, in league with exiled Morgan Le Fey (Lumley), who's hell-bent on world domination. Directed by horror specialist Hickox with his customary visual panache - the opening is a marvel of heady whip pans, close-ups and jump cuts - this is a very contemporary, '90s timepiece. Characters and language are given a modern, revisionist sheen. Sources are sported like a coat of arms, from the story's origins (comic-strip frames interrupt/develop the narrative), to a Pythonesque pseudo-Jabberwocky and a Lancelot du Lac-like focus on detail. That said, this is hardly junior Bresson. Very silly towards the end.

Author: NB 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide


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