Title - The Green Knight (2021) 

Director - David Lowery (Ain't Them Bodies Saints) 

Cast - Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris 

Plot - In medieval times, Sir Gaiwan (Patel) sets off on a potentially deadly quest to meet with the mysterious Green Knight who has struck a game with the young man that could have life changing consequences. 

"Honor. That is why a knight does what he does"

Review by Eddie on 01/11/2021

I'm fairly positive you've never seen a re-telling of an Arthurian medieval tale quite like David Lowery's The Green Knight, the writer/director's take on the story of Sir Gawain and his game with the mysterious Green Knight. 

A reimagining that is likely to have purists of this classic tale squirming in their seats or captured by its unique sensibilities and visually arresting nature, Knight is another stunningly original film from David Lowery whose already given us a memorable take on Pete's Dragon and life and death in Ghost Story (and will soon be taking to the big time with his Peter Pan film) and while the director can't make everything here work, there's little doubt that we are witnessing the first acts in a Hollywood career that could become legendary. 

Giving his star Dev Patel one of his best leading man roles alongside Slumdog Millionaire and Lion, Lowery follows Patel's Gawain on a journey to prove his worth as he intends to uphold his end of a bargain to visit the Green Knight on Christmas day, a year after lopping off his head in a very public way, but nothing about Lowery's adventure is what you'd call typical as Gawain meets money hungry looters, ghostly dames, giants, talking foxes and Joel Edgerton and Alicia Vikander's mysterious couple on his way to meeting his destiny. 

Slowly paced and moodily scored by Daniel Hart, working alongside Andrew Droz Palermo's smoky and atmospheric cinematography, Knight is always engaging on an aesthetic level and is rounded out by a brave and unforgettable final act but there's large portions of middle section and ponderous/unexplained elements that are likely to turn some viewers right off and in some ways they are right too feel miffed by a film that never tries to make things easy or play things out in ways one may expect from such a premise. 

It's a brave undertaking by Lowery, refining and remolding a tale such as Sir Gawain's into a fever dream like affair that defies any logical pigeonholing, unrushed in any way as Gawain slowly plods along on his road to the Green Chapel and while its cold delivery and sometimes hard too decipher desires ensure that this film is held back from greatness and more likely public adornment, this is another feature film that continues to build the hype around Lowery's filmmaking credentials. 

Final Say - 

Highly likely to be one of 2021's most unique higher profile films, The Green Knight doesn't always stick its landings but there's some incredible moments found within David Lowery's tale and another quality performance from Dev Patel. 

3 1/2 foxes out of 5