The legend of Camelot is given a modern twist from the makers of the Sharknado franchise.
When King Arthur banishes the evil witch Morgana and her son Mordred to the ends of the universe, Morgana vows revenge against anyone in King Arthur’s bloodline as well as those of the Knights. Flash forward 1500 years later in Thailand. Ex-military officer Penn is a descendant who does not believe in the legacy he is supposedly known for. He has a girlfriend in Jenna, a fellow student at the dojo they train in. However, Lucas, an apparent descendant of Merlin, believes in the legacy and swears by it.
When Morgana and Mordred re-emerge, Morgana makes her intentions clear. To gain the ultimate power, she must gain Excalibur. Regaining some of her powers, Morgana begins her wrath of destruction, even possessing local police to serve as her loyal warriors. When Penn, Jenna, Lucas, Georgina, and the returning Gunner all find themselves affected and hunted down, they soon find a mysterious ally who will have to do only one thing: make them believe their legacy and fulfill their destiny.
Having adapted Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers as a modern day adaptation, The Asylum returns with another modern day take of a legendary story, in this case, King Arthur and his knights. Sharknado 5 writer Scotty Mullen crafted a pretty decent tale set in modern day Bangkok featuring many stunt performers and actors who have a career in Thailand today.
Kickboxer: Vengeance’s Sara Malakul Lane really hams it up to quite an effect as the evil Morgana, who seeks the power of Excalibur and uses her powers to attempt to get her way. In the pivotal role of Penn is stunt performer Eoin O’Brien, who can be seen in films like Tekken 2: Kazuya’s Revenge and Never Back Down: No Surrender. For his first lead role as a non-believer turned the descendant of the King himself, O’Brien handles himself pretty well as he not only deals with having to learn of his legacy, but a conflict within his own ranks when the return of Gunner possibly brings back an old rivalry not only within their military ranks but a love triangle between Penn, Gunner, and Jenna.
The supporting cast makes the most of what they have to work with. As Lucas, Alex Winters is the hardcore military man who teaches Penn a thing or two about him needing to come to terms with his past and his legacy. Tanja Keller’s Georgina is a hardcore warrior who takes no remorse but finds herself bonding with an unexpected supporting character. Elidh MacQueen’s Krista becomes the key to the heroes living up to their legacy. Jon Nutt’s Gunner is a bit of annoying character with his over the top way of convincing the group of their destiny while Russell Geoffrey Banks’ Mordred seems to have a bit of undecidedness in terms of what he wants to achieve and his character is perhaps more conflicted than even our heroes.
The final act starts of promising until it takes a much unexpected turn that is flat out ridiculous. While the film’s apparent final action set does live up to its promise and all looks to be safe and sound in Bangkok, Mullen’s script decides to bring something that is not a dragon, but something far worse and that is said in not a good way. While it shouldn’t be a surprise considering that the Asylum made this, but they have done better with their endings to their other films. The actual finale is quite a disappointment in this case. It is as if the ultimate villain mode looks like it could have came out of the 1995 Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers big screen film and those who have seen it know exactly where this is headed.
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table starts out very promising for an Asylum film with a good concept. However, that concept takes a very atrocious turn in the film’s final act that just nearly destroys the overall effort.
WFG RATING: C-
The Asylum presents a Benetone Films production. Director: Jared Cohn. Producer: David Michael Latt. Writer: Scotty Mullen. Cinematography: Josh Maas. Editing: Rob Pallatina.
Cast: Sara Malakul Lane, Eoin O’Brien, Alex Winters, Kelly B. Jones, Russell Geoffrey Banks, Jon Nutt, Asia Marie, Tanja Keller, Elidh MacQueen, Byron Gibson, Ron Smoorenburg.
WorldFilmGeek 