Excalibur

⭐ 7.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

This is a weeeeird movie from the 80s, and predictably, while it didn't perform super well in it's time, it's psychedelic nature has kinda made it a cult classic today. It's very trippy, and Merlin is a huge weirdo, and it opens with a pretty intense sex scene for an 80s movie... Actually, to add to the weirdness, the woman in the scene is the daughter of the director. Can't imagine what that conversation looked like. Also can't imagine being the actor having pretend sex with a woman while her dad stands a few feet away...

Anyways, I don't actually usually like weird, psychedelic, cult-classic movies. I've been trying to fall in love with Arthurian Legend, but this movie was a roadblock in that. The writing is awful, the action is cheesy, the plot is pretty convoluted, the acting is at times bizarre and over dramatic (looking at you, Patrick Stewart). It's a movie of massive scale, but it's pretty clear that the budget was more limited, or at least against modern standards. There's plenty to not like.

And yet I can't help but feel that there was some magic here. It's a beautiful movie, shot mostly in misty Ireland. The castles look great, the costumes look (sometimes) great. There will always be something about an amor-clad knight riding his horse along a rainy moor to epic music. It's definitely a little silly at times, over-serious and over-dramatic, but I couldn't help but be drawn to that here and there.

So I come down in the middle. Not my favorite Arthur adaptation (and there are precious few good ones for movies) but one I don't regret watching. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it unless you're into this kind of thing. Why can't Hollywood make a proper Arthur movie?? I guess it's tough to adapt, as this movie proves...