Arthurian Legend is full of stories and myths that have inspired so many of the fantasy tropes and stories of today. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the inspiration for this film is one of those stories. These stories are nearly all tragic and it is in tragedy there is so much drama. This was a really good film with a dreamlike presentation that I highly recommend. Really the only things keeping it from greatness are pacing and how the supporting women are explored in the story. Still, without going into spoilers I do recommend this film.
The film was directed and written by David Lowery and based on the story Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Anonymous.
The story follows Sir Gawain (Dev Patel) who must meet the Green Knight (Ralph Ineson) a year from Christmas after he accepts the Knight’s challenge and beheads him, a cost that the he now owes the Knigt in turn.
SPOILERS ahead
The Pros:
The Cinematography – Andrew Droz Palermo’s cinematography is beautiful and dreamlike and captures the fantasy of the world and quest so well. Colors contrast and burst on the screen and depending on the scene drape the scene in wonder or fear. I can’t wait to see more of his work.
The Lord and Lady – The Lord and Lady both end up being the temptation of lust as both of them want Sir Gawain. In the end he is able to overcome the comfort of their friendship and home to continue the quest. Joel Edgerton and Alicia Vikander both do a great job with the Lady playing on the intellect and the Lord his joy of the hunt and good food.
The Tragedy of Sir Gawain – This is a story from Arthurian Legend so of course it is a tragic story in the end. In the end Sir Gawain dies with his honor intact or dies a King who loses his lover, family and kingdom and is beheaded anyway. Whatever choice Gawain makes he can’t escape death’s inevitability. The film captures this well as well and Dev Patel plays Gawain’s inner conflicts so well as a man who wants to find his honor and accept his destiny. In the end the film leaves both futures open which is fitting as the stories and legends of old each gain their own originality in each new retelling and spin on the elements of the core plot.
The Green Knight – The Green Knight is death’s inevitability and both the Lord and Lady comment on this the most as well as the fox friend Gawain makes. Death doesn’t care for the life lived or story told it simply is. Ralph Ineson captures this so well and his costume is beautiful as this knight who is like a living tree who the lifetimes of mortals are simply a game as it lives on.
The Cons:
Pacing – This film could have cut down some of the events that happened as the only connecting throughline is the mortality of Sir Gawain. They are beautiful sequences but some go on for too long when I feel like the point is the tragedy and final facing of the Green Knight.
The Women of the Story – The women of the story are either there to tempt him to live or abandon his quest (his mother, the lady, his lover) or to tell the story (his mother, the Queen, Saint Winifred). This is Gawain’s personal story but I wish they’d been explored at least as well as the Green Knight. These roles are all important but the only character who feels fully realized as a character is the Lady. The characters deserved better.
This was a really good story that is well worth your time, especially if you are fan of myths, legends, history and fantasy as I am. Dev Patel’s performance is fantastic and this world was so fascinating to be in. This is also one of the best films based off Arthurian Legend I have seen. I definitely recommend checking this film out.
Final Score: 8.5 / 10