The Green Knight - Editor's Review

Get ready for a magical and medieval experience with
​The Green Knight

​​Over a year after it's initial release date was postponed because of the pandemic, A24's 'The Green Knight' opens in theaters in the US on July 30th. In this highly-anticipated film, we see King Arthur (Sean Harris) and his headstrong nephew Gawain (Dev Patel) take on the mysterious Green Knight. In the story, based on  an anonymous 14th-century poem, Gawain takes on a challenge in the form of a game, but soon learns he is sorely wrong to think he has won. 

Gawain must follow through on his promise as he sets out on a journey. Along the way he finds several characters who he thinks are there to help him on his trek to make good on his promise to The Green Knight. The story was last brought to screen in 1984's  'Sword of the Valiant' with Sean Connery playing the Green Knight. In this version, 'The Green Knight' is mythical and mysterious. 

What I love about this story is that the premise has remained the same, but the outcome has changed based on the production and version.  In his version of the book, J.R.R. Tolkien called 'The Green Knight'  the "most difficult character" to interpret, which explains the fascination with this character and story.

This film is darker, magical, and more introspective than other films on King Arthur tales. Don't expect huge battle scenes as seen in other King Arthur films of the recent past, such as 'King Arthur and The Legend of the Sword.'

Dev Patel takes us on quite an emotional ride as we want to root for him, but there are characteristics that make us feel otherwise. In the end, we get a dream sequence similar to that in the 2016 film 'La La Land', where we see what his future, dreams, mistakes, risks, and consequences shape up to be. Go into this film expecting to want to know more about this story and legend, but don't expect the big fight sequences or battles as in other films depicting this time period. 

---