The Green Knight (2021) UMR Stats
The Green Knight (2021) UMR Links
UMR Movie Review of The Green Knight (2021)
Why I watched this one? SoC2 (Son of Cogerson 2) celebrated his 29th birthday and asked if I would see this movie with him. I of course said yes, though I knew almost nothing about the movie.
What is this one about? A fantasy re-telling of the medieval story of Sir Gawain (played by Dev Patel) and the Green Knight.
My thoughts on this one? Ok let’s talk about the good stuff first. This movie looks and sounds pretty amazing. Some of the camera work is very memorable. The cast does well in their roles. Before discussing some of the things I did not like as well….let me acknowledge that I knew almost nothing about Sir Gawain before watching the movie. So that being said, I will tell you I was pretty confused for almost the entire movie. The movie does not bother to explain much. I felt like I should have had a King Arthur reference book to even try and grasp what I was seeing on screen. In one section of the movie there is a blindfolded older woman who appears in almost every scene yet is never mentioned, explained or even allowed to speak once in the movie. Even after doing some internet research I still do not know who she was or who she was supposed to represent.
My son, who knows a lot more about Sir Gawain than me, says, the movie makers have taken a very unusual approach to his story. Another issue was the pacing of the movie. There are many many long scenes that show Dev Patel walking, running and riding a horse. Those scenes offer nothing to the story and really drag down the movie. The payoffs to scenes are either very weak or just do not happen. Even the grand finale goes out with a whimper versus out with a bang.
Professional critics love this movie. It currently has a stellar 90% Rotten Tomato score. However, if you look at the Rotten Tomato Audience score that number drops down to 54%. That is one heck of a difference! Final thought: English literature majors will probably love this movie….the rest of us will probably not really like the movie. As for my son, he enjoyed the movie, though acknowledges it has many issues.
The blindfolded lady was Morgana Lee Fay.
Thank you Turner. I wish they would have called her Morgana in the movie. As well as calling the King….Arthur. At one point during the movie I looked up the cast trying to see if Sean Harris was playing King Arthur. The IMDb cast lists his as King. Once again, thank you.