The Green Knight reviewed by Mark Kermode

The last sequence of this movie was excellent and haunting. Easily one of my favorite movies of the year

This and The Lighthouse have made me so excited about the future of cinema. Two young, brilliant directors making outstanding films.

I just watched it last night. I only wished I’d seen it at the cinema. It’s exquisite. I felt like I was walking through the moors and breathing in the rich mossy green of the forest.

I gotta praise a film that has the guts to end with a 15 minute montage. This was really good.

It's a breathtaking film. The best part is the cinematography. I was transported and immersed into a completely different world. Worth every penny!

saw the Green Knight when it came out in the US, and I looked forward to Mark's review because I had a feeling he would absolutely love it! So glad to hear that that's the case. One of my favorite movies I've seen in a long time

WISH I had hunted this down on the big screen. Just now seen it, and was utterly blown away. It's one of those "just go with the flow" kind of films, and I admit the opening 15 or so minutes dragged for me. I needed to settle into the correct mindset to appreciate it - but once there found myself captivated. Again and again I caught myself gasping in awe at the cinematography. There are shots in this film that I know to be incredibly hard to achieve with such levels of finesse and beauty. The soundtrack too is magnificent, and Dev Patel can do no wrong. What a performance. What a film. Criminal that it didn't see a wider release. I urge anyone who loves cinema to seek this out and support it.

Struggled with it frequently but man oh man did it deliver in its final moments. Regardless on whether or not it cracks into my top of the year, it certainly had an ending like no other.

Been waiting for Mark’s review. Was not disappointed at all.

An absolute cinematic breath of fresh air. And it totally tickled my folklore-loving fancy.

I watched this with my dad giving him no context of the movie. It was like watching him have a transcendental experience.

I thought it was a masterpiece.. one of my favorite films of the last few years.

I remember the tale from reading it as a young boy, this film takes it deeper into the forest, the rustling of the wind through the leaves, the smell of damp wood, the burbling of brooks and streams and the cast are fantastic especially the fox!

I wish I could have seen it at the cinema. This is just such a beautiful told classic saga/fairy tale!

The ending resonated with me in ways I didn't expect. It was Poignant and Profoundly Beautiful!

Really is a piece of work. It looks amazing, the atmosphere is wonderful, the performances are top class and the story itself is taut and incredibly satisfying. A perfectly formed mini-epic character study.

This was a movie that deserves multiple watches. So many layers of storytelling, on later viewings, as you peel away different bits, and put together the pieces, to get a slightly different viewing experience. A truly fantastic piece of cinema, beautifully filmed, fantastically acted, and masterfully directed.

I'm thrilled to see such a review - because it's absolutely spot on. I saw The Green Knight for the second time in the cinema earlier this week and it is everything Mark says here: visually stunning, mystical and haunting, emotionally complex and challenging. It IS a remarkable film and my favourite for a long time. This is a special film and is great testament to the director, to all the actors and everyone else who conceived and designed all its intricacies. See it!

What i thought was exceptional about it, was the mystifying sense that you are looking at a realistic version of the original story. I might have a little bit of trouble with the pace but I think it was charged with the existential dread of Lowery's best that IMO is Ghost Story and an excellent revision of everything that make this type of story work, even without showcases of CGI prowess.

Not many movies can transport the viewer like the way the green knight did. It beautiful and haunting movie and I think Dev Patel was incredible, we need more Asian actors. It is proper shame movies like these are not getting made more.

I live in an isolated city in the middle of the UK, there was absolutely no way I would be able to watch this in cinema which has devastated me, but regardless I absolutely loved this film. Splendid

This is the review I was waiting for.

I thought this film was genuinely awful. It was boring, dark, sloooooow in the extreme, and raised no interesting questions or ideas. Mark talked about "audacious" moments - I can't think of a single one!

I loved the 1970's version with Murray Head, looking forward to seeing this version

I watched it at home yesterday but am very tempted to go see it again in the cinema. The photography was absolutely stunning, I'd love to see that on the big screen.

I did enjoy it, but I felt the story felt a bit episodic in a way. We have a bunch of segments that I'm not sure really fit well together. Dev was fantastic tho

There is a discussion to be made about Amazons distribution strategy which I think is beyond terrible.
Starting with The Small Axe series and the Underground Railroad series that they just dropped.
Has there been any promotions for this movie from them?

If your deadset on watching it at home.
Only watch it on a TV if you have a reasonably high quality HDR set and then watch it in the dark or at night.
There are many scenes that are very dark (from a lighting perspective) and it will be difficult to see what's going on.
Most digital projections are only 2k Rez these days. I guess no home audio setup can truly reach cinema level though.

Makes me wish Mark would revive his top 10 best and worst lists.

Dev Patel has such a good track record.

I wanted to love it as it was on my radar as one my most anticipated movies of the year after Dune. It started off well and I enjoyed everything up to and including the appearance of the Green knight. Then when Dev Patel's Gwain sets off on his quest it began to really falter for me as a pretentious and boring piece of film-making. I wasn't expecting an action fantasy on the scale of Lord of the rings but I was expecting something cérébral like Pans Labyrinth or esoteric like Boorman's Excalibur .No one can argue the film isn't beautifully to look at and it features some interesting production design ; clever camerawork and good use of the locations. I also liked the costume design . I found the narrative really difficult to get invested in and somehow towards the end I finished up hating the whole thing and felt that I had wasted two hours of my life watching it . Perhaps I was just in the wrong frame of mind for it and a subsequent viewing it might be better but I doubt it. I found it disappointing . Love the show and tune in every week !!!!!

The Other Half and I have just seen this - via Amazon, because we don't have a Curzon anywhere near that we know and are also still semi-shielding because of COVID, due to health conditions.
I would absolutely love to have seen it on a big screen - we shut the blinds and at least watched it on a decent screen, in the dark. But I cannot agree enough with Mark's comments - it is an incredible film. And we will certainly watch it again.

This was great but watch it at the cinema not on Prime.
Seen No Sudden Move - decent
Seen No Time To Die - Pretty good
Seen Venom 2 - Awful
Now we wait Dune which I’m hoping will be epic.

This was only shown for a very short time in cinemas over here where i live. So sad i missed it.

Loved this; the beginning pulled me into its world. Great ending. Found it a little long though, maybe the manor sequence could have been trimmed a little. Will rewatch to reassess.

I feel like this movie asks the question "how much should your imagination fill in", in a cinematic experience? Because if you are not willing to this movie is a mess, whereas if you are attuned to this, it is a tool to help you arrive at the ending you wanted. It's just so competent in every way except as an actual self-contained vehicle, or how to put it. It just doesn't work as a story (or adaptation), unless you are there to let it, allow it to happen. I am truly of several minds in how I feel about that. :p

This was one of my most anticipated movies and I was not disapointed. Truly fantastic movie. Love how the movie creates the foreboding atmosphere with its score and use of angles. Dev patel was perfect as Gawain. To me its one of the most faithful adaptations of the legend

Loved it. I was absolutely amazed

So glad I got to see this in a theater. I don’t know if I would’ve stuck with it if I’d had the ability to pause and rewind and look things up on Wikipedia. It really rewards a patient viewer. This movie stuck with me for weeks after I watched it.

I loved it! I love fantasy, but so few fantasy films dare to be this weird and wonderful.

I loved this film mostly for all the reasons Mark stated (and good for him for wearing a Blade Runner t-shirt). The voice of the Green Knight had me wracking my brains and, lo and behold, it was Ralph Inerson. This guy must be a trillionaire by now for his voice work alone.

Seen it twice and I can’t stop humming the music and annoying my friends talking about how much I love it 😆 also I work at a cinema and was so happy I managed to get a poster for it 😍

Agreed! This is my favorite movie of the year. I watched it almost a month ago and I'm still thinking about it.

I really wish I'd got even a tenth of Mark's enthusiasm for this. I can see it's a very visually interesting film, but it left me absolutely cold, and despite persisting into the second half, eventually gave up on it.

I was looking forward to seeing this in the cinema but it seems it is not on anywhere near me, so forced to watch on Amazon :/

This was my most anticipated film of the year. Did not disappoint. Never watched any trailers so went in blind!

Loved it! Got Blade Runner 2049 vibes off of it. Looked beautiful, well acted and a great interpretation of my favourite Arthurian Myth.

i adored this! so many levels!!

There's fee things quite as wonderful as hearing Mark gush his ass off.

Movie of the year. Great to see a quintessential British folktale having new life breathed into it. Reminded me at times of 'A Field in England', 'The Witch', 'Midsommar', 'Hereditary' and with creatures from Hellboy II thrown in for good measure.
Looked and sounded beautiful. And the ending was smart and unexpected.

Well, this is the first site that seems to have consistent praise for The Green Knight. I dug it, as well. I was more curious on how people viewed this than really any other film I've seen in a long time, and I kept running into the same dreck everywhere, where people wanted it to be fast and furious instead of what it is, which is slow and curious. This movie really dislodged me and lingered with me. I started off caught somewhere between bewildered and perplexed and wound up pretty enchanted. It really gave me some excitement that something like this could be made and be accessible. Kermode and I are wearing the same lenses, here and walking in the same aether.

I still remember how I felt coming out of the cinema after I saw 'A Ghost Story' and despite its brilliance I didn't get quite the same experience with this film but maybe because I streamed it. I will have to see this again at the cinema.

Traditional story, the manuscript found in the library of Henry Savile of Yorkshire. It draws on early English, Celtic and French chivalric traditions, Gawain travels across England/Britain, probably Wales the English Midlands to Wirral (it is believed!) atmospheric story, and yes the King kisses the Knight at the end!

I had the great pleasure of seeing this in a nearly empty cinema. Loved it, a great film that I would thoroughly recommend, especially on the big screen

Looking forward to this one. On a side note, at what age do you think Mark realised he had a wonky microphone?

I have to say this film was not what I was expecting. About 30 minutes in it had won me over, and I just let it carry me along. Beautifully shot, and the ending was wonderful.

I couldnt agree any more with Kermode here, it is a cinematic experience, with so substantial depth, beautiful poetic storytelling, and you really do feel the change in seasons, and there is so much mystery and ambiguity, its brilliant...Never expected this kind of film in todays cliimate..Very good piece

I was initially really unsure as to what this would be like so watched on Prime. I’ve just returned from watching it at the cinema and would agree it is more powerful on the big screen. That said it is still amazing on a big tv at home. A really tremendous, puzzling and moving film 😊

i feel like people went in expecting something like lord of the rings but got a macbeth sort of movie, it's a good movie, some strangeness but that's the story, and it's a great tale with a great morale and lesson, i feel the changes at the end from the original kind of harm that moral a bit but it's still good

I finally saw it last night on AP with headphones in, on a reasonably sized tablet in a darkened room. Not the cinematic experience I was hoping for but it was still completely immersive. I really enjoyed the film and will certainly watch it again but it just missed the substance and pathos of a life journey film like 'Barry Lyndon'. Don't get me wrong, among the well meaning but ultimately heartless fodder churned out these days, this is a very welcome feast but it just lacked story and character development that would have made me 'feel' more. One other good thing that came out of seeing this though is, I now want to track down and read the source material. Well done Mr Lowery

I like cerebral movies. I've watched this twice and will watch it again. It helps if you are familiar with the original story of The Green Knight. Its very multilayered and has many metaphorical meanings and messages which to decipher. The acting is brilliant. Think I will watch it again tonight. The ending is open and you decide what happens unless you know the story.

A beautifully filmed and thought-provoking movie for sure. See it in cinemas, well worth it.

I loved the bit where Sir Bobby Ewing was in the shower.

I love this movie. And I am so happy to see Mark Kermode enjoying it is well. And talking about his experience is such a magical way. Big kudos for this review, currently you are my favorite critic, even though I do not always agree with you:) But I guess this is for the best!

Completely agree, it's fantastic. Seeing on the big screen was fantastic, as soon as the film opened I felt like I was home, exactly what a film should be

Incredible cinematography. Top notch.

Havent seen it. But would you say to those that said it was " extremely boring"?

It's a great shame it had such a limited release. It's a good film but one I can't help think would be improved if I'd been able to see it in the cinema.

the visuals in this film are absolutely breathtaking. The prefect film in the fantasy genre in my opinion

I think seeing it in HDR on a 55 inch OLED quite rivaled going to the cinema. The image had a decent size and was crisp and popping much more than at the cinema. In my view something at the scale of Dune would only truly warrant a trip to the cinema this year if you have a similar setup.

Visually incredible film while being so unusual but I loved it. The locations were amazing

When I came out of the movie theater I didn't know if I liked or not. The next day I loved it.

Spot on about the cinematic poetry. Echoes of Tarkovsky in there. And might I say, one of the stars of the film had to be Ireland!

This film had a very deep spiritual message and I completely agree it had ties to horror - horror being one of the most spiritual genre. I enjoyed it a lot but felt it wasn’t without its flaws. I think I should rewatch it. I think it finally made me understand a lot of deep spiritual truths and was a very unique experience. I can’t deny the pacing did challenge me as did some of the direction choices but it is very well made and visually breathtaking. 4/5 for me on first viewing

What kind of release did this actually have? I am an Unlimited Cineworld member and monitor what is shown at my local Cineworld quite closely. I appear to have missed this film by 6 weeks or more!

The music is spectacular in the movie

This was visually very impressive, but I found there were so many different intriguing ideas and motifs that I was frustrated at the ambiguous conclusion. I think I also found Gawain's "failure hero" behaviour a bit wearing; he seems to spend the entire film making actively bad decisions or being dragged along by events up till the conclusion, then the film ends. Most "coming of age" stories (a motif which this obviously draws on) will show the protagonist doing something with their newfound maturity, understanding etc., not simply *not* doing something.
My view of the film may have been coloured by watching it in a room full of people who paid zero attention to the cinema's requests for people to wear facemasks.

It's such a shame that Odeon cinemas don't see to have put this in their theatres at all. I did watch it on Prime this morning instead, but it feels like a missed opportunity not to see it on the big screen

Loved it, seen it twice and want to own it

I really wanted to watch this in cinema, but it only had a limited run of like 1-2 weeks here. :(

Halfway through, I found myself very dissapointed. By the end I loved it.

Stunning movie. It's one of those weird gems that truly takes you into another world, time and place. Just sucks you right in and doesnt let go. It is so complete in its design that you are truly immersed, and you quickly realise how stale 99.9% of other movies are by comparison. Sound design, acting, worldbuilding, attention to detail, cinematography, direction *chef kiss. Some say it's too long, I say it's not long enough. would give my left nut for a studio to fire a hundred million dollars at Lowery and let him make a medieval fantasy series with complete artistic freedom.

Loved it, underrated and well recommended

Just saw the Green Knight today. This film is phenomenal, it is cinema. It must be seen in theater. Best film of the year for sure.

I didn't understand this film at all. Looked nice but I had no clue what was happening. Is that just me?

I did see it in theatres. Worth it.

Bored and confused as very few of the characters overcame anything or grew/changed/learnt anything or mattered to the story.
Maybe I just don't know/care enough about the history of this fantasy genre.
I expect and equally positive review for the next Transformer film, as they too are very pretty to watch

“Why greatness? Is goodness not enough?”
The movie does take certain creative liberties with the original source. If someone is aware of the story, they may come out disappointed. The movie however is still an effective story of morality.

It took that film to get me back in a cinema - first time in a year and a half.

I wondered what happened to Finchy from 'The Office'.

I watched this last night with a couple of friends. To be honest at the end of the movie none of use could quite put our finger on exactly (a) what had just happened and (b) why whatever happened just happened. However, talking afterwards it was really interesting how we each had different interpretations. Beautiful cinematography, well acted, quite odd, I think I enjoyed it, but my original expectations were perhaps unfairly high after Mark's review. That's not a criticism of the film or Mark though.

A very late but always welcoming review. Waited for this one thinking we’d never get one, but glad we finally got it.

No mention of "Sword of the Valiant?"

Just watched this. What an amazing film.

I'm sorry, it looked good and it's a good ending but it was like a novel you'd started and for me just wanted to get through. Not the grit of excalibur or the emotion of Henry 1v / v ( hollow crown) caught between two stools. ( I know I'm a lone voice in the wilderness)

For me the events of the film were a fantastical training exercise/simulation to make gwain a better man. I liked this film and would recommend it to others

I saw Green Knight in the theater over a month ago. I like the film overall but the emphasis is certainly on the atmosphere and uncanny elements. Characterization is weak and the story meanders too much. It looks great and has some individually memorable set pieces (which I won't spoil here) but it doesn't totally gel.

Lived up to my expectations,

The review I expected..... Love the Simon Armitage version.

Mostly shot here in Ireland, which I appreciate!