Review: The Green Knight
The Green Knight, directed by David Lowery, tells the tale of Sir Gawain (Dev Patel), the nephew of the great King Arthur (Sean Harris), who one Christmas day gets invited to sit by his uncle’s side and feast with the Knights of the Round Table. But just as the festivities commence, a mysterious green knight (Ralph Ineson) crashes the party to play a “game” with the bravest knight to which the victor wins his fancy green axe. Young Gawain accepts the challenge hoping to make a name of himself, not knowing of the sinister catch to this game. Now as a result of the game, Gawain must partake on a quest to face the green knight at the Green Chapel and bring honor to his name and lineage.
This film has generated quite a bit of hype if I do say so myself. In my experience at least we don’t see many King Arthur legends get adapted into film nowadays, let alone legends about his Knights of the Round Table, so seeing this film get so much attention alongside all the other big budget Hollywood films is refreshing to see. However, while there is certainly a lot to appreciate in this film, it’s not exactly the epic adventure I hoped to see. The Green Knight is visually a sight to see, but you’re going to have to slog through a lot of slow-burning detours to fully appreciate it.
The one thing that holds the film back for me is the overall story. David Lowery takes the film’s legend and deconstructs the living heck out of it, adding a massive amount of depth to a millennium-old story. The problem is though all that depth and intrigue doesn’t really happen until a little over halfway through the movie; this film takes its sweet time getting to the juicy nitty-gritty of it all. There are a lot of side quests our hero partake in that don’t really add anything meaningful to the overarching story; they all seem to just serve as filler to make this film qualify as a theatrical release.
A lot of the side characters are also forgettable in the film. Outside of our main protagonist the many cast of characters he meets along his journey don’t leave much of an impact. The ending was also somewhat anti-climactic. The first ten to fifteen minutes leading up to it was absolutely amazing, but once it all ends the film just concludes not with a bang, but more of a crackle. It makes sense, but I kind of hoped for more of a resounding resolution.
It really is a shame that the story is such a bore, because everything else about this film is excellent. Dev Patel gives an outstanding lead performance, the visuals were mesmerizing, the music is perfect for the film, the CGI is impressive for its budget, on a technical level this film delivers and then some. But alas, good visuals alone does not make a great movie for me.
Overall I recommend the film to check out, but it’s clearly not for everyone. I can see a lot of people get turned off by the film’s slow pace and long-winded story. Those looking for a epic fantasy adventure full of danger and peril, you won’t find it here. This is a slow burn deconstruction of an ancient tale about a man wanting to make a name for himself, and if that sounds interesting to you then check this film out and see for yourself.
Final Verdict: 6/10