The Green Knight Movie Review

The Green Knight (2021)

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Written by: David Lowery (written for the screen by)
Directed by: David Lowery
Starring: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
A fantasy retelling of the medieval story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Verdict
This has such a great look. You could pause this anywhere and get a great image. It also really captures the feel of a fable. While the pacing is measured, it's needed as this movie becomes a thought exercise. What do Gawain's choices and trials mean? What does it take to become an honorable knight? We see this through Gawain, who is young and eager to cement his name in legends while living in King Arthur's shadow. That causes a brash choice that starts his journey. Will he uphold the deal or will he try to cheat and deceive? While this movie has gotten mixed reviews, I'd guess the people that didn't like it were expecting an action movie. It's not that, and I absolutely loved this movie.
Watch It.

Review
This is a modern retelling of the 14th century tale Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

From the very beginning the cinematography looks so good. Gawain (Dev Patel) is a knight yet to create or partake in any myths. When a mysterious Green Knight enters the court with the challenge of a strike for strike, Gawain accepts the challenge. Gawain can land one strike on the knight, and in one year the knight will deliver that same strike to Gawain. Gawain accepts and beheads the mysterious knight. Was it Gawain's youth, impudence, or just his impulse to impress the crowd that causes him to make that choice?

Dev Patel plays Gawain

Gawain has the mythic tale he sought, but a year later he must accept his fate and venture out. Being an honorable knight he has no other choices. He must keep his word. We don't know specifically whether he wants to keep the bargain, but I assume he doesn't. What young adult wants to accept death? The legend Gawain doesn't get very far before he's ambushed by a couple of kids. We see Gawain dead in the woods, the fate of the impudent knight or just his fears manifest.

What is a legend if you can't share it? These are the trials and tribulations of Gawain. He's the boy that wanted to be a legend, and this is the journey that made him one. He faces various tests, in the first one he's robbed of his belongings, but through good deeds he gets them back. The overarching question is what does it mean to be honorable. Does Gawain seek honor? Is he honorable only because that's what's demanded of a knight?

Dev Patel plays Gawain

This is slower paced than the action knight movies that have released recently, but this needs time so we can consider the questions and implications of what it means to be a knight. What does Gawain do when he faces adversity? How does he strive to be a knight worthy of King Arthur's court?

SPOILERS

Gawain is bound by duty and honor, and his quest directly ties to his weaknesses and strengths. Gawain reaches the Green Knight, but flinches, unable to accept death which is the consequence of his actions. He can't accept the trade.

I wondered how closely this followed the original idea of the need to accept death. The themes are certainly present in The Last Temptation of Christ. Donnie Darko referenced and copied the same themes. The highest calling is knowing what you are sacrificing and choosing to do so. That is honor.

In the original poem Gawain was not killed. It was a trial to test Arthur's knights. This movie is more modern with a knight who desires greatness. His decisions are impetuous. He doesn't want to die, but he also doesn't want to die as a nobody. His visions constantly return to the future of lack thereof. Ultimately as a knight he realizes his duty, and that he's beholden to honor. Some part of this movie reminds me of Pilgrim's Progress, an allegory of a man on a journey to Heaven that faces tribulations along the way.
Ultimately Gawain has seen the future isn't the fairy tale he had hoped. This movie doesn't explicitly show Gawain's death. The Green Knight commends him for not trying to cheat death. Was this just a test? Gawain is still owed a blow, a death strike. I believe his fate is just that. This journey wasn't about the end, death. It was about the trials he faces, the choices he makes, and how in the process he became the legendary knight he desired to be. Gawain has to make the honorable choice and refuse to cheat despite the grave cost.