Dull and far too long
- The Green Knight review by CH
Read the poem, which is clever, funny, ironic and fast-paced. Don't bother with this pretentious film. Dev Patel, as Gawain, glowers morosely into the middle distance for most of the time and stumbles about for ages in dreary landscapes. Various women with improbable hairdos make droning speeches which are portentous rather than profound. A good plot is transformed into nonsense and the whole thing is basically rather nasty, which, considering that the original romance is life affirming and bright, is something of a dismal achievement for the director. Let's hope he never tries to give the poet's other works the same treatment.
6 out of 8 members found this review helpful.
Dark, Mysterious Fantasy Film
- The Green Knight review by GI
A rich, beguiling and quite fascinating fantasy film set in the Dark Ages and the mythical time of King Arthur. Based on an ancient poem this is story of false courage, nature and life as a young cousin of the King, Gawain (Dev Patel) grabs an opportunity to impress the court by accepting to play in a 'Christmas game' with the strange Green Knight (Ralph Ineson). But there are conditions to the game and Gawain is forced, a year later, to travel to a distant forest to seek out the Green Knight and allow him to inflict the same wounds on Gawain that he caused dealt to the Knight. Gawain is reluctant as this would involve his death but the King forces him on the quest to find the Knight and fulfil his promise. The journey is perilous, across a bleak and unforgiving landscape where he encounters dangers and magic. This is an enthralling, enigmatic film with the same, if condensed, imagery and feel that Peter Jackson brought to his Lord Of The Rings trilogy. It's a seriously told fantasy film that looks at the absurdity of masculine honour and the support cast of Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton makes for an interesting experience. Sean Harris and Kate Dickie as a moody, almost cadaverous King Arthur and Queen Guinevere in a dark, brooding castle are an interesting vision of the legend. This is a quite mesmerising film with a stand out performance from Patel, who captures a combination of bravado, fear and cowardice in the 'hero' figure. This is worth checking out even if it might seem a little baffling to begin with.
5 out of 9 members found this review helpful.
Dull, dull, dull… and dull
- The Green Knight review by Alphaville
This must be the most ridiculous, ill-conceived and boring retelling of an Arthurian legend ever. Funereally paced, stylised and stilted, stagey and solemn, static and pompous, devoid of action and even sense, filmed mostly in darkness with half-lit faces peering at the camera or into the distance… This is the worst kind of arthouse anti-film, with all the life sucked out of it. What a waste.
2 out of 5 members found this review helpful.
Original and visually stunning but ultimately doesn't do justice to the text
- The Green Knight review by PD
This one offers us a reminder of how difficult it is to put the Gawain tale onto the screen, for whilst there are some very powerful scenes here and whilst it is certainly visually stunning throughout, overall I'm coming away that much of this was a confused mess, I'm afraid. For writer-director David Lowery tries far too hard at giving us a unique take with 'epic' dimensions - including a mix of ghosts, giants, temptresses and mysterious beasts, with each dream-like detour prolonging Gawain's march to the inevitable showdown and the ultimate test of his mettle and manhood. Occupying practically every scene, Patel makes a striking and relatable hero, but he spends much of the time as baffled as the audience is likely to be, for the psychological themes on show are in the end far too vague to be truly thought-provoking. The film's sheer originality is certainly striking, but we still await a film version that does justice to this astonishing work.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Pretentious and boring
- The Green Knight review by RB
Did I mention it was boring? I did? Well it’s also pretensions too. I can’t spin this out to 100 character, it really did signify nothing, vacuous pontificating twaddle
2 out of 4 members found this review helpful.
Absolute tripe from start to finish
- The Green Knight review by DaMikki
The author of this story must have been on drugs, the entire film made little to no sense and was even less entertaining.
** Spoilers ahead **
In a flash forward the immoral and dishonourable man sees himself becomes king when he should have had his head cut off. What he does is totally despicable, he gets his girlfriend pregnant after having already cheated on her during his travels. Then he takes her child and marries someone else. He is nothing but an evil ba$t@rd. The entire kingdom grows to hate him.
Don't look for a happy ending in this film, as the entire kingdom would have been happier if the guy was killed 20 minutes in. Which is why he allows his head to be cut off.
Absolute nonsensical tripe from start to finish, don't waste your time watching it.
2 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
Arthurian legend at its finest
- The Green Knight review by AER
I can't find a fault with this visually amazing and creative take on Sir Gawain and The Green Knight. All you need to do is compare this to Guy Ritchie's very sorry King Arthur - Legend of the Sword and you know you're in an entirely different league. When legend/fantasy films are pumped out all over the purpose without care or love, this version by David Lowery offers thought, mystery and atmosphere for days. Pumped up with excellent understated performances, this is one of the finest English-language films of 2020. 10 out of 10.
1 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
pretty but so so boring
- The Green Knight review by JD
Entertainment value here is near zero.
Its nicely made, looks good and so on but its so incredibly dull.
We turned it off after 30mins
Which really does put it in a very small pile at the bottom of my film ratings.
1 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Pretentious Tripe
- The Green Knight review by AS
If you are looking for the dullest and heavily satanic version of a Camelot story, this is the film for you. This utterly confused director is totally unaware of the role of Camelot to bring Light into the Dark Ages and instead focuses on the Dark ages prevailing all round. It is hard to believe that any filmmaker could achieve such a level of dullness and mediocrity while claiming his originality in spinning a new insight on a previously magical myth.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Appalling woke remake of a classic British myth and story
- The Green Knight review by PV
Can those who worship in Wokeworld please GET REAL.
Gawain was not black or brown or Asia - he was indigenous British, European, Caucasian, white. To cast a BAME actor as him or any real or fictional British figure of the past is not only absurd but a disgusting racist insult - just as casting white actors as Zulu warriors or Indian myth heroes and gods would be. The racist hypocrisy of colourblind casting is stark
Dev Patel is a fine actor and no reason he should have to bear this burden.
Shameful, as is all absurd tickbox colourblind casting, GET REAL, PEOPLE. Grow up.
0 out of 1 members found this review helpful.