The Kid Who Would Be King (2019)

(On Cable TV, December 2019) I had been waiting far too long for writer-director Joe Cornish’s follow-up to Attack the Block, and the result isn’t a disappointment: The Kid Who Would Be King brings the Arthurian Legend into modern schools by featuring a kid picking up Excalibur and defeating the evil that threatens the land. If this feels familiar, it may very well be that it’s in step with a spate of recent British movies (many of them also starting with the Arthurian Legend) consciously indulging in national myth-making. The movie doesn’t waste any time in portraying the current world as one that needs saving, preferably using homegrown magic and prophecies. Clearly, there’s a link with Brexit here that I’m not fit to explore—but as with so many things British these days, it’s almost enough to send a message overseas: Dear United Kingdom, is everything OK? Do you need any help in figuring this out? Signed: Your former colonies. At least Cornish is an able ringmaster in coordinating the various elements of his movie: Tons of special effects support an adventure that ventures across Britain, conjures up fantastic creatures and deals with teenage protagonists. Cornish does write a movie clearly set in modern times, reuses some plot structures from Attack the Block (notably in initially portraying two characters as deeply unlikable before zigzagging their way to a heroic finale) and know how to use a spectacle. It’s decently effective—the tone effectively zig-zags between despair and triumph, some clichés are overturned along the way, and the film remains effective both with teenage audiences and older ones. The kid actors are fine, but Angus Imrie gets a showcase role as the eccentric Merlin (also played by Patrick Stewart). Skillfully made, The Kid Who Would Be King revisits familiar places in new ways and provides quite a thrill to the audience. Sadly, the film earned good reviews but bad box office results—meaning that it may be a while before we get another Joe Cornish movie.