Guinevere is on her way to marry Arthur when her convoy is ambushed in the forest. She does battle – and looks terrific slamming one guy’s head against a tree – until Lancelot charges up to save the day. Guinevere tells the wandering swordsman she’s set to marry the king. He puts the moves on her right there in the woods anyway, saying, “I always know when a woman wants me.” Guinevere fends Lancelot off after one kiss. But he follows her to Camelot, where they exchange tortured glances as he becomes a knight and helps defend Arthur’s kingdom against the evil Malagant (Ben Cross). Guinevere and Lancelot manage to kiss twice, but they never get down to serious cuckolding.
“First Knight” disappoints in a lot of ways: it’s murky and sunless, its battle scenes are a letdown after “Braveheart.” What’s worse, the movie simplifies the famous love triangle almost beyond recognition. Lancelot no longer loves his king as much as his queen, so there’s no dark thread running through his passion for Guinevere. Lady Elaine no longer exists, so the queen can’t deliver the sort of bitchy asides she made in T. H. White’s “The Once and Future King” (“Am I to watch you flirting with that turnip?”). Plus, there’s an upbeat ending. Camelot was a hell of a lot more dysfunctional when White, Malory and Tennyson were calling the shots. All that said, Gere fights nimbly. Connery says “Camelot” in that nifty accent of his. And Ormond lives up to her considerable hype: Guinevere’s love for Arthur is the only truly complicated emotion in the movie, and not many young actresses would have had enough range and regal cool to pull it off. “First Knight” is a half a glass of mead. Whether it’s half empty or half full depends on how thirsty you are.
