David Beckham’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword cameo debuted two days ago online, winning some relatively negative reviews online.
Critics who watched the entire film were equally unimpressed, Empire calling it a “misguided, fist-biter of a performance”, The Telegraph adding: “[It] goes on for line after forehead-slapping line, and saps the moment of its mythic excitement.
Speaking to Sky News, director Guy Ritchie defended the performance, saying: "He was fantastic, I love old Becksy. He is a fabulous actor and a real pleasure to be with."
Asked about Beckham’s movie star potential, Ritchie was less enthusiastic, saying: "I don't know yet, one step at a time."
Films to get excited about in 2017
Films to get excited about in 2017
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1/22 Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Director: Rian Johnson
Cast: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Lupita Nyong'o
Plot: No details yet, but it will continue directly on from Rey coming face-to-face with Luke at the end of The Force Awakens.
Release Date: 15 December 2017
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2/22 Thor: Ragnarok
Director: Taika Waititi
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Tessa Thompson, Jeff Goldblum, Karl Urban, and Mark Ruffalo
Plot: Story details are minimal as of now, but Thor's third return to screen has already been teased to feature a loose adaptation of the famous 'Planet Hulk' storyline.
Release Date: 27 October 2017
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3/22 Song to Song
Director: Terrence Malick
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, Rooney Mara, Michael Fassbender, and Cate Blanchett
Plot: Two intersecting love triangles. Obsession and betrayal set against the music scene in Austin, Texas.
Release Date: Unknown
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4/22 Wonder Woman
Director: Patty Jenkins
Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, and Connie Nielsen
Plot: After leaving her all-female island, Wonder Woman discovers her full powers and true destiny while fighting alongside soldiers during World War I.
Release Date: 2 June 2017
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5/22 The Circle
Director: James Ponsoldt
Cast: Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, John Boyega, and Karen Gillan
Plot: A young female tech worker takes a job at a powerful internet corporation, quickly rises up the company's ranks, and soon finds herself in a perilous situation, which that involves privacy, surveillance and freedom. She comes to learn that her decisions and actions will determine the future of humanity.
Release Date: 28 April 2017
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6/22 The Beguiled
Director: Sofia Coppola
Cast: Elle Fanning, Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Kirsten Dunst, and Angourie Rice
Plot: A Union soldier is held captive in a Confederate girl boarding school, and begins to con himself to each of their hearts.
Release Date: 23 June 2017
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7/22 You Were Never Really Here
(image from Her)
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Alessandro Nivola
Plot: A war veteran's attempt to save a young girl from a sex trafficking ring goes horribly wrong.
Release Date: Unknown
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8/22 Annihilation
Director: Alex Garland
Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, and Oscar Isaac
Plot: A biologist's husband disappears. She thus puts her name forward for an expedition into an environmental disaster zone, but does not quite find what she's expecting. The expedition team is made up of the biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, and a surveyor.
Release Date: Unknown
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9/22 Wonderstruck
(image from Far From Heaven)
Director: Todd Haynes
Cast: Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, and Amy Hargreaves
Plot: The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection.
Release Date: Unknown
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10/22 Suburbicon
(image of director George Clooney)
Director: George Clooney
Cast: Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Josh Brolin, and Oscar Isaac
Plot: A crime mystery set in the quiet family town of Suburbicon during the 1950s, where the best and worst of humanity is hilariously reflected through the deeds of seemingly ordinary people. When a home invasion turns deadly, a picture-perfect family turns to blackmail, revenge and betrayal.
Release Date: Uknown
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11/22 Okja
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Cast: Ahn Seo-hyun, Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Paul Dano
Plot: A young girl named Mija risks everything to prevent a powerful, multi-national company from kidnapping her best friend — a massive animal named Okja.
Release Date: Unknown
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12/22 Dunkirk
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Harry Styles, and Mark Rylance
Plot: Dunkirk opens as hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops are surrounded by enemy forces. Trapped on the beach with their backs to the sea they face an impossible situation as the enemy closes in.
Release Date: 21 July 2017
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13/22 Mother
(image of Darren Aronofsky)
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall Gleeson, and Ed Harris
Plot: A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.
Release Date: Unknown
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14/22 The Killing of a Sacred Deer
(image from The Lobster)
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, and Alicia Silverstone
Plot: A surgeon forms a familial bond with a sinister teenage boy, with disastrous results.
Release Date: Unknown
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15/22 Blade Runner 2049
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, and Jared Leto
Plot: Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.
Release Date: 6 October 2017
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16/22 Lady Bird
(image of director Greta Gerwig)
Director: Greta Gerwig
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, and Lucas Hedges
Plot: The adventures of a young woman living in Northern California for a year.
Release Date: Unknown
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17/22 The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara
(image of director Steven Spielberg and star Mark Rylance)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Mark Rylance, Oscar Isaac
Plot: The Kidnapping Of Edgardo Mortara recounts the story of a young Jewish boy in Bologna, Italy in 1858 who, having been secretly baptized, is forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian. His parents' struggle to free their son becomes part of a larger political battle that pits the Papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification.
Release Date: Unknown
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18/22 How to Talk to Girls at Parties
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Cast: Elle Fanning, Ruth Wilson, and Nicole Kidman
Plot: An alien touring the galaxy breaks away from her group and meets two young inhabitants of the most dangerous place in the universe: the London suburb of Croydon.
Release Date: Unknown
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19/22 The Dark Tower
Director: Nikolaj Arcel
Cast: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, and Tom Taylor
Plot: Gunslinger Roland Deschain roams an Old West-like landscape in search of the dark tower, in the hopes that reaching it will preserve his dying world.
Release Date: 28 July 2017
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20/22 The Shape of Water
(image of Guillermo del Toro behind the scenes of Crimson Peak)
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer.
Plot: An other-worldly story, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1963.
Release Date: Unknown
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21/22 Alien: Covenant
(image of director Ridley Scott behind the scenes)
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Noomi Rapace, and Guy Pearce
Plot: Headed toward a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew members of the colony ship Covenant discover what they believe to be an uncharted paradise, but it is actually a dark, menacing world in which the only inhabitant is the synthetic David, a survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.
Release Date: 19 May 2017
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22/22 Baby Driver
Director: Edgar Wright
Cast: Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm, and Kevin Spacey
Plot: A young, music-loving expert getaway driver is coerced into a heist for a mob boss, which threatens his life, love and freedom.
Release Date: 18 August 2017
Charlie Hunnam, who stars as the titular character, was also positive about the footballer’s performace: "It was lovely [working with Beckham], he did an amazing job. He is very quiet and humble and serious.
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"I thought it was a lark, I thought he was just going to show up for a laugh because he is Guy's friend, but he took it all very, very seriously.”
Overall, the reviews for Legend of the Sword have been relatively negative, the film currently holding an 18 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As a result, the film is expected to bomb at the box office following weekend.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword reaches UK cinemas 19 May, and US theatres 13 May.
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