The movie begins with King Arthur waiting for dawn and wondering how they have gotten to this point, where he has to wage war against his best friend and knight, Lancelot.
Merlin pops in and out to help Arthur with this thought process, telling him to go back to the beginning, when he first met Guinevere.
We go years back, when Arthur is younger and something weird is going on with his hair at the front that makes him look a little like Spock. The king is nervous about meeting his new bride because it’s an arranged marriage.
Not too far away, Guinevere feels the same about meeting the king. She wishes that she could live like an ordinary maiden, whom strong men fight over, before settling down. Be careful what you wish for, Gwen.
The escort party suddenly stop due to some trouble and Guinevere takes this opportunity to run away. She stops and starts praying underneath the very tree Arthur is hanging out on. He is like, I should not be listening to this, but I will anyway.
Suddenly, the tree branch which he’s been standing on breaks and he falls down, giving her a fright.
Guinevere runs, in fear that he was one of those hooligans who would kidnap and ruin her. When Arthur assures her that he won’t do anything like that, she feels insulted because, what? Am I not beautiful enough for you to kidnap me? Erm… make up your mind, girl.
They get to know each other for a while, Guinevere tells him how stressed out she is about marrying a stranger and asks Arthur to run away with her. But you just met this guy five minutes ago, Gwen!
Arthur doesn’t tell Gwen who he is until they are found by the escort party and everyone starts kneeling before him. Such a classic fairy tale encounter.
King? She is stunned. Arthur then explains to her how he became king — the whole sword-in-the-stone deal — and how he wants to be the coolest king ever to deserve her now that he has gotten to know her. But Arthur agrees to call off the marriage if Gwen is unhappy about it. Pure class.
Well, sign me up, Gwen says. Or at least that’s what her song means to say.
They get married.
A few years later, Arthur – who’s always up for new ideas to improve his government – comes up with the Round Table and starts recruiting knights around the world.
Enters Lancelot, a young French noble, who is so confident in his skills and purity of heart that he declares if he was Eve’s man, humanity would still be in Eden. OK, take it down a few notches, dude.
He runs into King Arthur, whom he has idolized all his life, and expresses his wish to join the Round Table passionately, one step short of kissing Arthur’s feet.
It’s May. People in England are having fun outings all around the country. And so is the Queen. During one of her picnics, she meets Pellinore, an old friend of Arthur.
Lancelot is a little annoyed by the fact that there’s no mission for him to go on yet and the most dangerous thing he gets to do lately is picking flowers. Arthur introduces him to Guinevere on the same day and asks him to tell Gwen of their new idea about training for the Round Table.
Lance immediately launches into a speech about standards for knights while Gwen just wants to give her husband a warm greeting.
Fed up with this guy, Gwen asks whether humility is on his mind lately. What a boss.
Arthur quickly saves Lance’s face by suggesting that they talk again another day. And that’s that.
But Guinevere is not satisfied, she wants Lancelot gone for good; so she sweet-talks three of Arthur’s best knights into challenging Lancelot at the next jousting tournament and hopefully humiliating him enough to make him quit.
But Lancelot easily defeats all three, of course. He fatally wounds the last one. And as the knight lies dying, Lance cries over his mistake. But for whatever reason – possibly Lancelot’s purity of heart – the knight breathes again.
Guinevere reflects on what happened that night – maybe Lancelot is not so annoying after all. And he’s also young and… so different from Arthur. Uh-oh.
The same night, Arthur talks to his friend Pellinore. He has realized Gwen’s change of attitude towards Lance (and a lot more).
Shortly afterwards, Lance and Gwen run into each other again as both of them have an appointment with Arthur on the same day. Lancelot hopes god forgives him but he’s pretty much head over heels with her. That makes two of us, Gwen replies.
Arthur comes into the room, making an effort to act normally and telling Lance that he’s ready to be knighted. Still emotional, Gwen and Lance don’t even have the energy to respond.
On the day of his knighting, Lancelot rides into the hall on horseback. So you don’t think you’ve drawn enough attention to yourself, huh, Lance?
Arthur knows, Gwen knows that Arthur knows, and Lance… well, feels like crap.
Alone after the ceremony, Arthur vents his anger in full Shakespearean style. What a dilemma the poor man is in.
If he exposes Lance and Gwen, it would be the end of the two people he loves most. If he lets them be, he would look like a hypocrite because his wife and best friend are going against the most fundamental values of the Round Table.
But ultimately, Arthur chooses to turn a blind eye to the whole thing. I’m in pain but so are they, he fathoms.
Thing is though, Lance and Gwen aren’t exactly subtle. The other knights start to suspect them. But as soon as any knight speaks up, Lancelot would challenge him to a fight, and Lance would always win. Problem solved. Because in medieval times, there are no lawyers to argue on your behalf, if you win the fist fight, you win the argument.
Because of this, many of Arthur’s knights have to swallow humiliation as Arthur is forced to banish them. Not looking good for the Round Table of justice and chivalry.
Lance considers leaving and never coming back. He loves Gwen but he also loves Arthur. It’s complicated. He ponders over the best time to leave Camelot. After a song, though, he’s like: yeah, I think I’ll stay. Gee, thanks.
Back in the court, Arthur is having to deal with a new problem: his illegitimate son Mordred (Arthur was young and stupid once too, OK?) shows up and has started to cause trouble around.
But Arthur keeps him around and hopes that the education at Camelot might turn him into a righteous knight. A lost cause, Arthur. Anyone can see that this Mordred guy only exists to raise your blood pressure.
Arthur begins working on a new project at this point: civil law. People can’t settle disputes by poking at each other with jousting sticks anymore. Every accusation will require evidence and has to be looked over by a civil court.
A while later, Lancelot comes to see Arthur and advises him to drop Mordred, because this guy has done nothing but teaching the knights bad stuff ever since he came.
Lancelot even offers to challenge Mordred to a fight and get rid of him for Arthur if Arthur can’t bear to do it himself. So other than the sleeping-with-the-queen business, Lance is a pretty good friend.
But Arthur says no. He wants to make amends to Mordred. He says he should have acknowledged Mordred when the boy was born, but didn’t do so because he wanted his and Gwen’s child to be his heir.
Unfortunately, they haven’t had any children and likely won’t at all. Yeah, been wondering about that too. What’s going on here, Arthur?
So that leaves Mordred as the rightful heir to the throne. And boy, if that’s the case, Mordred needs to be educated ASAP. That’s what Arthur is trying to do.
Then, Arthur drops a subtle hint to Lance and Gwen that they should be careful themselves with Mordred around. He also makes Lance promise not to hurt Mordred in any case.
You should have taken up Lance’s offer, Arthur, that’s all I’m going to say.
Mordred is, of course, up to no good. And let’s face it, Lance and Gwen are certainly helping him.
One day, as Arthur spends the night in the forest hunting and mulling over all his problems, Mordred sets a trap. And Lance and Gwen fall right into it.
Mordred and the other knights catch them in a room together (to say the least). Lancelot strikes down all the knights but spares Mordred – whom he has backed into a corner and could’ve easily killed – due to his promise to Arthur. Bad call, because now there is someone who can testify against Guinevere in court. And according to Arthur’s new system, he must be ready to punish the queen if she is found guilty. Ouf.
Gwen is sentenced to be burnt at the stake. Arthur and Pellinore restlessly wait for Lancelot to come and rescue her. Arthur can’t put Guinevere above Camelot, but Lance certainly can.
Lance does come in the end. But during the struggle to take Gwen away, many knights are killed. Now the remaining knights demand revenge. And because their anger is just, Arthur has to agree to their request. Man, you are too nice.
So that is how Arthur and Lancelot are now at war with each other.
On the eve of the battle, the three of them meet again. We learn that Guinevere is now staying at a convent. Arthur forgives her, but she’s beating herself up. Well, what can I say, Gwen? You had King Arthur all to yourself, but you just had to go for Lancelot’s jawline instead.
Arthur and Lance clasp arms and agree that they have no choice but to go on with this battle. Franco Nero made up for his questionable acting throughout the movie here with a great display of Lancelot’s inner struggle.
As Arthur armors up, he discovers a young boy snooping nearby. He calls the boy over and asks what he’s doing out here where there’s going to be a bloodbath. The boy says he has dreamt to be a knight all his life and has come to see the king and his warriors in action.
From the passion in the boy’s eyes, Arthur realizes that his Chivalry project might have failed, but the idea will live on. And one day, someone will take up the mantle and make another try for it.
Arthur asks for the boy’s name. Tom, he says, Tom of Warwick. Ooooh…
Arthur knights Tom, then tells him to go home and never to forget the place of fleeing glory that is Camelot.