The Green Knight

8/16/2021

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://www.msbreviews.com/movie-reviews/the-green-knight-spoiler-free-review "The Green Knight is a slow-burn character study with some of the best visuals and sound work I've ever witnessed. David Lowery delivers a thematically heavy, superbly structured narrative focused on the self-discovering journey of the flawed protagonist Sir Gawain. Dev Patel leads with an extraordinarily subtle, powerful performance, accompanied by an equally impressive supporting cast. Andrew Droz Palermo's stunning cinematography, Daniel Hart's atmosphere-setting score, and especially Johnny Marshall's impactful sound design deeply elevate the tremendous epic scope that this movie holds. However, some fantastical elements feel irrelevant, the lack of any sort of action deeply affe

11/11/2021

I found this movie to be mostly intriguing, and I have no qualm with the acting. I must confess that in a couple of places it dragged for me, once to the point where I nodded off for a few minutes. To be fair, I was also operating on not enough sleep lately. I thought it odd that Essel, Sir Gawain’s girlfriend, had such short hair. Was that a thing in the Middle Ages? There are a couple of plot twists that add a little zing to the story, which I will not reveal here. Rather I will say that the ending reminded me a little of the ending of The Last Temptation of Christ. Also, you should pay attention to it s it winds down, so that you know what is going on. So file this film with others that I probably won’t watch a second time, but which I don’t regret spending two hours on.

7/17/2022

_The Green Knight_ is an epic character study that takes it's time following the path of a man finding worth in his life, but that slow progression is also its downfall. This movie was really gripping at first, I was invested in the first 30 minutes but that flow slowly starts to fade during the mid-section. At this point the scenes begin to drag a bit and the story jumps from one section to the next so quickly that it can be a bit disorienting as to where you are. Despite the slight pacing issues, this film is still a treat to watch. The visuals and the atmosphere of this film is really well done, each scene felt perfectly crafted. The mix between CGI and practical affects are a real bright spot as today so many movies rely too much on the computerized effects. The tone had me compl

9/4/2022

Dev Patel is just as wrong for Sir Gawain as he as for David Copperfield, but it's not his fault that The Green Knight is an incoherent mess; the responsibility lies entirely with writer/director/editor David Lowery. Early on in the film, King Arthur (Sean Harris) tells Gawain, "Tell me a story about yourself so I can get to know you." Gawain replies that he has no story to tell; two hours later he still doesn't have one save for a few disjointed episodes that ultimately equal less than the sum of their parts. Poor time management is another issue; it takes the movie a very long 15 minutes to introduce the Green Knight (voice of Ralph Ineson), but when he issues his challenge, Gawain immediately jumps the gun without giving anyone else even a chance to turn it down. This situation

9/26/2024

The Green Knight baffled me after the first watch; perhaps watching it at 4 am, I was too tired to fully appreciate its dreamy, slow pace. But on the second viewing, I discovered all the stunning visuals and deep symbolism I apparently slept through the first time. It turns out Dev Patel’s Sir Gawain isn’t just wandering around aimlessly, getting his end away.