MovieChat Forums > The Green Knight (2021) Discussion > They FINALLY made a GOOD Arthurian legen...

They FINALLY made a GOOD Arthurian legend movie? WOW!

posted 3 years ago by ReelReviews14 (1030)
16 replies | jump to latest

88% Certified Fresh score on RT.

Weighted average score of 85 out of 100 on Metacritic, "Universal acclaim"

7.4/10 user score on IMDB.

I haven't seen an actual GOOD movie based on the King Arthur legend since Excalibur, which came out FORTY YEARS AGO, in 1981. (well, there's "Merlin" with Sam Neill, which was pretty good, but it was only loosely based on the Arthurian legend, and it was a TV miniseries, not an actual movie)

MOST of the big budget, mainstream, hugely hyped, "King Arthur" type movies since then have range from mediocre to godawful... King Arthur (2004), King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Tristan & Isolde, Prince Valiant, The Last Legion, etc. I was even looking forward to The Kid Who Would Be King, despite the film being obviously aimed at 8 year olds, because it had freakin' PATRICK STEWART as Merlin and that SOUNDED epic. Alas, they pretty much wasted him in the role. The biggest problem with most of these movies is they try to somehow market themselves as being "historically accurate" and showing the "True story" of Arthur, despite the fact the character most likely did not exist in real life and is a composite of folklore and legends that developed over many centuries, and belong firmly in the genre of FANTASY, ala Lord of the Rings.

So they were finally able to make some kind of medieval knight/sword fantasy epic set in the world of King Arthur legends... that DOESN'T suck?

I'm very curious about that!

[–] SteveG (1370) 3 years ago

Have you not seen Excaliber?

[–] kukuxu (5409) 3 years ago

That damn ending with the Wagner tubas playing the Death of Siegfried. One of the best endings ever. THAT's cinema.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ll4qS4anGo

[–] ProgsReturn (1770) 3 years ago

Excalibur rocked. It's the only movie that took the Arthurian legend seriously. I can't think of any movie that took the Robin Hood legend seriously tho.

[–] ReelReviews14 (1030) 3 years ago

Ummm that's exactly what I said. There hasn't been a GOOD movie based on the Arthurian legends SINCE Excalibur.

And then I noted that "Merlin" with Sam Neill was also "good", but its a TV miniseries, not a theatrical film.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 3 years ago

And there has been no need for one. Excalibur dropped the microphone.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Hear, hear!

[–] HarlemEagle42 (16215) 3 years ago

Merlin was pretty underrated I thought.

[–] SteveG (1370) 3 years ago

Which one?

[–] HarlemEagle42 (16215) 3 years ago

The Sam Neill miniseries from 1998.

[–] SteveG (1370) 3 years ago

I’ll check it out.

[–] distroy (236) 3 years ago

This is not the movie you're looking for...

[–] Ace_Spade (9364) 3 years ago

You have basically mentioned the only two King Arthur films that I have enjoyed - Excalibur and Merlin (underrated!) - and, yes, I really loved this one, too.

I'd love for somebody to do the King Arthur legends right some day. Somebody with a passion for the stories, a big enough budget to handle it, a creative vision that brings something to the table (like with The Green Knight!), and ideally a disinterest in altering the tales too much. Just enough to stuff into a good mini-series (6-12 episodes). I'd love for them to tackle it well without trying to "spin" it. How many Arthurian retellings have we seen where they're "gritty" and "real"? Too many.

[–] SweetTooth43 (1792) 3 years ago

It's not based on the King Arthur legend though. It's based on the famous 14th Century poem 'Sir Gaiwain and the Green Knight'.

[–] ReelReviews14 (1030) 3 years ago

But the 14th Century poem 'Sir Gaiwain and the Green Knight' is part of Arthurian folklore. Sir Gaiwain is one of Arthur's knights. In fact, Arthur appears as a character in the 2021 film "The Green Knight" as well. Consider it a "side story" to main Arthur stories.

[–] triplea (3577) 3 years ago

Did they? Cool!

Can you please tell me the name of it so I can check it out?

[–] Jes' Sayin' (5978) 8 months ago

(s)Excalibur wasn't that terrible...