The Green Knight (2021)

By: Mike Ward on Friday, July 30

R Running Time: 125 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

  • Fans of medieval adventures and King Arthur canon will be really curious to see The Green Knight.

  • Dev Patel is one of the more underrated movie stars we have. The camera loves him and he is captivating here.

  • The Green Knight is beautifully shot, designed, and presented. Aesthetically speaking, this is really impressive craftsmanship.

NO

  • A film critics will fall in love with and praise, while most movie audiences will feel left out, left behind, and completely bewildered as to what is going on.

  • Borders on pretentiousness at times, with a sense that one needs an almost professorial understanding of the subject matter, time period, and related historical background to begin to understand all that’s in play here.

  • Relatively minimal dialogue and more cerebral than action-packed, The Green Knight is a stylish, occasionally stunning 125-minute mood that becomes increasingly unsatisfying to be around.


OUR REVIEW

With relatively minimal dialogue and exquisite visual presentation, The Green Knight is a film that dazzles the senses but leaves viewers holding a narrative structure that feels formless and complicated. One mustn’t clear their minds completely when watching Lowery’s adaptation of 14th century poetry, but it certainly helps. 

Dev Patel stars as Sir Gawain, a character first introduced in a 12th century work from a British clergyman. Eventually, Gawain would become a part of Arthurian mythology, represented as King Arthur’s nephew, in a 14th century novel written by an unknown author. Patel embodies Gawain effectively; at once innocent and inquisitive, cocksure and aloof. 

The story is one of a hero’s journey. With Lowery at the helm, The Green Knight takes more than a few walkabouts that will leave most mainstream viewers on the fringes and baffled by what’s transpiring before them.

Patel, though, remains one of those actors who always looks fantastic on screen - dashing, striking, perfect hair and a captivating accent. Lowery likewise seldom takes eyes off of him, which helps Patel’s embodiment command our attention, even if the symbolism and poetic flow of the film keep us at arm’s length.

Having never made the same movie twice, the acclaimed writer/director has a loyal, dedicated fanbase who swoon for every out-of-the-box decision and slow-drip approach he brings to his storytelling. The Green Knight, stuck somewhere between a coming-of-age medieval adventure and intellectual fever dream, takes its time in crafting Sir Gawain’s quest.

Lowery has put together a strong ensemble cast, led by Oscar winner Alicia Vikander, dual cast as Gawain’s current girlfriend Essel and as an eventual mistress, equally as smitten with Gawain as is her husband, “Lord,” portrayed by Joel Edgerton.

A talking fox arrives. A scavenger (Barry Keoghan) pickpockets the dead on the battlefields Gawain crosses. An elderly, sightless woman haunts Gawain in certain scenes. Eventually, the titular knight crosses Gawain’s path, which sets in motion the eventual thrust of the story: The Green Knight (Ralph Ineson), a towering tree-like/human hybrid, lays down a bet and challenges anyone to strike him in an attempt to wound him. Then, in one year’s time, said individual will permit the Green Knight to wound the soldier in the same way.

The exuberance with which Gawain leaps at the opportunity is indicative of an immature, ill-prepared soldier. Had Lowery embraced that demeanor, The Green Knight might be an easier pill to swallow. Instead, his penchant for odd imagery and hypnotic storytelling rhythms could just as easily lull someone into a sweet slumber as it might hold people’s captive attention. 

He teams for a second time with cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo (A Ghost Story) and the film is beautifully shot and presented on screen. Layered in multitudes of hushed and suffused colors, light comes at a premium in many scenes, with vivid costumes and expansive sets illuminating Sir Gawain’s supernatural and internal reckoning.

Powerful aesthetics, Patel’s terrific performance, a balance of experimental and deeply symbolic underpinnings - The Green Knight has so many elements that make the film worth exploring. However, Lowery forgets to bring most of us along with him as he tells this story. Frequently, frustratingly, the film isolates itself and keeps us distant; emotionally disconnected from Gawain and his travels. 

And that poses a significant problem for the casual viewer. Those limitations leave you only able to admire what amounts to a beautiful piece of art hanging in front of you.

You can’t touch it. You can’t feel it, or really even get near it. But it sure does look pretty from afar.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Harris, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Barry Keoghan, Erin Kellyman.

Director: David Lowery
Written by: David Lowery
Based on “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” by an anonymous author.
Release Date: July 30, 2021
A24