INT. WHEN HONOUR IS EVERYTHING – DAY
The Green Knight isn’t another retold Arthurian tale on its 10th remake. This is the intimate tale of Sir Gawain, the not-yet-honorable and not-yet-a-knight nephew of King Arthur, and his journey into a world full of mystical challenges and honorable ones too, to complete The Green Knights seemingly impossible to cheat challenge.
We start within Camelot’s walls, perfectly protected from the evil and folklore surrounding it nothing is out of the normal here. Like any Arthurian legend, Camelot is safe, but The Green Knight is a world of magic and eccentricity, by easing us in we too experience this journey that Gawain embarks on. We thought we knew the rules of the world, but Camelot is a haven compared to the world we enter together.
We have a backdrop; the stage is set. The Story?...
During the Christmas celebrations, The Green Knight appears to set the challenge.
Should he land a blow, then one year hence, he must seek me out, He shall find me and bend a knee and I will return what was given to me. (Paraphrased)
Minor spoilers to follow.
Gawain accepts and this is the story we follow. We understand the outcome that is to take place and we follow Gawain to the honorable yet expected death that awaits him.
This film knows what it is, something rare to find these days (Unless it’s an A24 film.) The style, tone, and atmosphere are confidently displayed in every scene, shot, and line. Performances are top class; Dev Patel holds the film together like glue, with one of his strongest performances to date. Minor roles are handed out to established talent, Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Alicia Vikander. Nothing ever feels undercooked when it comes to the characters and their performance, and no character feels over-the-top in this over-the-top world.
The world-building is epic, in both scale and in how fucking cool it is. It doesn’t diverge from established Arthurian ideas and themes but modernises them in classic indie style. We ease our way into it from the norm set in Camelot to Giants walking across large plains and this is where I can separate audiences that will love or hate this movie. Spirits or warfare, pick one. Because the film has both, however, it will use one as a backdrop and one to continue Gawain’s journey. People either want action or a mystical adventure and as I said earlier this is an intimate tale, so don’t go expecting an Arthurian John Wick (although hit me up when that movie exists.)
Gawain knows the challenge set, The Green Knight will return what was given, and Gawain straight up decapitated him. The end of Gawain’s journey will hit you, depending on how much you enjoyed this film you’ll either be amazed or just pissed off. But this film stands on its own two feet saying, ‘this is the story we want to tell’, and for me at least, it left me thinking about it for the rest of the week. The Green Knight, right now, is my favourite movie of the year. I challenge another movie to knock it off, but it might make it into my Letterboxd favourites, yet it could be the high I’m on from it. Another sitting will be necessary.
If you didn’t believe that Dev Patel wasn’t already a king, this movie will help you reinforce that message.
So, if you couldn’t tell, I loved watching The Green Knight.
5/5
FADE OUT
