First Knight

Richard Gere, as the love besotted knight Lancelot, turns his amorous attentions on Camelot's most famous babe, the lovely Guinevere (Julia Ormond), in this lavishly mounted remake of the classic Arthurian soap opera. Only one obstacle stands between Lance and Gwen: Sean Connery (here played by King Arthur), who--a major touch of gray notwithstanding--still flutters hearts and is no easy knockoff even for a former Cindy Crawford beau. To add a little excitement to the romance, Ben Cross steals Arthur's queen, allowing Lancelot an opportunity to prove his mettle with his metal. Even though my loyalty lies with John Boorman's 1981 Excalibur, this $37 million boxoffice hit is still recommended. (R. Pitman)[DVD/Blu-ray Review—Apr. 29, 2008—Sony, 134 min., PG-13, $19.95/$28.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray and second appearance on DVD, 1995's First Knight boasts a fine digital transfer and solid Dolby Digital 5.1 on the standard DVD version, and a very handsome 1080p transfer with impressive Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio on the Blu-ray release. DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary with director Jerry Zucker and producer Hunt Lowry, an “Arthurian Legend” commentary track with professor of medieval literature Cory James Rushton, a 19-minute “The Quest for Camelot” making-of featurette, an “In Shining Armor: Knights in Training” behind-the-scenes featurette (19 min.), “The Creation of a Kingdom” production design featurette (18 min.), four deleted/extended scenes (6 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: both the standard DVD and Blu-ray versions offer a fine presentation of this solid medieval romance.]