SummaryAt the urging of her dying mother, Nimue (Katherine Langford), who later becomes the Lady of the Lake, travels with a young mercenary named Arthur (Devon Terrell) to return a sword (Excalibur) to Merlin (Gustaf Skarsgård) in this re-imagining of the Arthurian legend based on the book by Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler.
SummaryAt the urging of her dying mother, Nimue (Katherine Langford), who later becomes the Lady of the Lake, travels with a young mercenary named Arthur (Devon Terrell) to return a sword (Excalibur) to Merlin (Gustaf Skarsgård) in this re-imagining of the Arthurian legend based on the book by Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler.
Cursed may not be the most serious or profound program that TV has to offer, but you won’t find many shows more solidly built or satisfying. ... Rarer and more exciting still is that this fantasy drama understands that you can’t make good television in any genre without getting fundamentals like character, themes, storytelling and aesthetics right.
Langford (“Knives Out,” “13 Reasons Why”) is effective if not exceptional, somewhat mirroring the entire enterprise. The gore quotient here runs high, but unlike “Thrones” and “The Witcher” there is no underlying erotic throb fueling things and humor is scarce.
I don’t usually watch TV due to the fact that I’m a reader. However this show Cursed totally reminded me if the genre of books I would be reaching for without a doubt t. This show’s take on King Arthur, Nimue, Merlin and low and behold Lancelot. I am seriously Anxious for another season !!
Despite its confusing plot, overly complicated mythology and sometimes cheesy effects, there's a watchability to "Cursed," in part due to its young star Katherine Langford.
Turn off your brain, and "Cursed" is fun and more evenly paced than other recent genre debuts. But at best, it feels like a small plate meant to keep our bellies full until we get a new season of "The Witcher," a yarn that's far and away wilder and messier but also a reliably better adventure.
The Arthurian legend represents a fertile screen playground, explored and revised from practically every conceivable angle. Yet other than its visual style, Netflix's "Cursed" represents a pale addition to that mythology, approaching the story from the perspective of Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, without yielding many dramatic ripples.
Love the concept thought the sets look good. Ended on a solid cliffhanger. I really like the actors thought they were all good choices that made the characters come to life.
I recently binged the whole series. I wouldn't say it was a waste of my time--it wasn't, during this Covid outbreak, there has definitely been worse things I have watched. However, there was sometimes some frustrating character choices that made me want to just stand up and yell at my screen. I did not read the book, but this seems like this may have been a case where they didn't translate the book to screen well---using a lot of animated cutscenes to portray things happening when they couldn't afford special effects. really just ended up making the story hard to follow and confusing. Many times I would be watching and asking myself "how?" or "why?" a character did something. It seemed as though the premise of a really good story was there but it felt really rushed--like most Netflix series do, as Netflix likes to do 3-4 seasons and then they cancel. They introduced far too many characters for the amount of episodes which allowed for no real character progression, thus leaving the audience feeling unattached. On a positive note, I feel like the ending set up potential for a good storyline ahead. If/when season 2 arrives---I will be watching.
It's not the worst show, but it's not the best one. The performance of Langford in here is ok. At least the show could've afforded better special effects. This good-try Arthurian legend could have a better plot, I really try to like this but it's missing something. I hope the next season is better.
The King Arthur Legend with a female lead?
Of course! So we get this one to cross off our list, too.
The setup isn't too bad, Katherine Langford is ok as Nimue, the lead character.
In the beginning she's depicted as powerful but her powers and their limits are never really established.
So sometimes, when in danger, she doesn't or can't use her powers and sometimes she does/can, depending most likely on what the script writers want to happen next.
Another thing: If you want a female lead and the story is about a magic sword,
how about you cast an actress that can actually wield a sword?
Langford couldn't convince me for a second that she can win any fight with that sword.
And the fight with the wolves...cringe worthy.
Which brings me to the special effects. Yes, it looks like they didn't have a big budget for CGI, but they could have used it more cleverly. But they didn't and some effects look really bad.
With regard to the rest of the cast, only Gustaf Skarsgård stood out as Merlin.
Even though Merlin is depicted as a drunk, Skarsgård balanced out the characters weaknesses to have him somewhat likable.
Father Garden and King Uther were convincing enough as villain and rivals to get hold of the sword.
But the ones that should have made an impression are Arthur and Gawain, but they were totally bland and not contributing anything substantial to the plot.
They serve as good people to talk to, to give advice and for the female lead to make love to.
I don't blame the actors. The script simply doesn't give them enough to do.
Fallen victim to the woke agenda, they aren't allowed to be strong and forceful, only the women are.
Male villains, of course, are allowed to be strong and dangerous, and show all that 'tocthic mathculinity". That's their reason of being.
The season's finale is surprising, but not in a good way.
They were going for a massive cliffhanger, I guess, but the last scenes feel totally off.
To wrap it up, 'Cursed' is for people who need a regular dose of fantasy fare and who aren't picky about it.
My main complaints about it are the lead's arbitrary use of her powers, her lame sword fighting, the arbitrary plot development, the pushing of the woke agenda and the lack of memorable characters that aren't villains.
I don't know about you, but to me, that's too many complaints for it to be a good show.