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Excalibur (1981) R
Everyone knows the basics of King Arthur, right? A sword in stone that only the destined king can draw out; Arthur and the knights of the round table; the forbidden love of Lancelot and Guenevere; Merlin the wizard who guides and plots and is betrayed by his pupil Morgana; the search for the Grail; and in the end the ruin of Camelot and death of Arthur. Excalibur tells a familiar story.
Excalibur is a movie about a myth, a pure fantasy that never even attempts to be realistic or historically accurate. It's glossy and hazy visuals make it look like a dream. It's a fairytale for adults with knights wearing their highly stylized plate armors 24/7, living the life of high adventure and being heroes worthy of legends.
The scope of the film (starting from Arthur's father, Uther, and ending to his own death and departure to Avalon) is huge and even at 140 minutes it moves at very fast pace. There's very little room for character development and most of the knights are no more than a name. I know this is something I regularly complain about in my reviews but here it just works; it's like the story of Excalibur is larger than people and even the greateast heroes are mere pawns to something larger.
There are some small things to complain about though. I didn't like the casting choices for Merlin and Arthur (Merlin as a whole was written too light for the film and his relationship with Morgana didn't work too well). Some of the sets were outright ridiculous like the foil covered castle walls. 24/7 worn armors were really silly too (Uther even had sex wearing full plate, must have been painful for Igrayne) but I managed to accept that as part of the world.
One of the greatest fantasy epics ever made. Some miscasts and other minor faults eat half a popcorn but otherwise it's just amazingly good.
Everyone knows the basics of King Arthur, right? A sword in stone that only the destined king can draw out; Arthur and the knights of the round table; the forbidden love of Lancelot and Guenevere; Merlin the wizard who guides and plots and is betrayed by his pupil Morgana; the search for the Grail; and in the end the ruin of Camelot and death of Arthur. Excalibur tells a familiar story.
Excalibur is a movie about a myth, a pure fantasy that never even attempts to be realistic or historically accurate. It's glossy and hazy visuals make it look like a dream. It's a fairytale for adults with knights wearing their highly stylized plate armors 24/7, living the life of high adventure and being heroes worthy of legends.
The scope of the film (starting from Arthur's father, Uther, and ending to his own death and departure to Avalon) is huge and even at 140 minutes it moves at very fast pace. There's very little room for character development and most of the knights are no more than a name. I know this is something I regularly complain about in my reviews but here it just works; it's like the story of Excalibur is larger than people and even the greateast heroes are mere pawns to something larger.
There are some small things to complain about though. I didn't like the casting choices for Merlin and Arthur (Merlin as a whole was written too light for the film and his relationship with Morgana didn't work too well). Some of the sets were outright ridiculous like the foil covered castle walls. 24/7 worn armors were really silly too (Uther even had sex wearing full plate, must have been painful for Igrayne) but I managed to accept that as part of the world.
One of the greatest fantasy epics ever made. Some miscasts and other minor faults eat half a popcorn but otherwise it's just amazingly good.