My biggest disappointment of 2021 had to be “The Green Knight”, however I think it is totally on me and perhaps not the film. Perhaps. Prior to this, I had loved every one of director David Lowery's films. What I love so much about Lowery is that none of his films are alike, they are all as different from one another as possible, but they are all made with such expertise. Lowery is also excellent at building a world and then letting the characters inhabit it so it all feels so natural and real, even if that world includes a big furry green dragon, or a ghost dressed in a bed sheet. I have learned to trust whatever David Lowery makes will be fantastic, no matter the story content or genre, and this is why “The Green Knight” made it onto my most anticipated of 2020 (shock, horror! Covid also knocked this film back a year too!). Before writing that list, I knew nothing about the film other than it was going to be “a fantasy re-telling of the medieval story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”; a story that I was not familiar with at all. Then came the trailers and they absolutely blew my mind. This thing looked incredible and I knew my choice to include the film on my most anticipated list was a good one. As I mentioned above, due to Covid, the wait to actually see the finished product was a long one, but the pre-release reviews for “The Green Knight” were all magnificent, with one film site I regularly visit giving it a perfect five stars. I was going to go in with very high expectations, but Lowery had never let me down before.
I was super excited when I finally got to see the film. It began and my mouth was agape by the stunning cinematography and fantasy imagery on display. I was also very impressed by the performances by everyone really, but particularly by Dev Patel, who initially I feared may have been miscast but those fears were squashed very quickly. However through all this visual beauty and fantastic acting, I was feeling nothing. I just did not understand the story at all, and felt it went completely over my head. I understand that Gawain was sent on a quest and through this quest he was meant to learn things that would better himself as a person, but I just could not work out the moral of the story. The film was told in such an arty way and moved so slowly that after awhile I began to lose interest as I couldn't understand what was happening. Once my interest waned, the more confused I got to the point that I didn't enjoy the film at all and thought it dragged its feet to reach its conclusion.
My reaction to “The Green Knight” frustrated me like crazy. Here was a film where there was so much I liked about it, and yet did not enjoy at all. “The Green Knight” is absolutely stunning from a technical standpoint; the cinematography is gorgeous, the costume designs are detailed and exact, as are the sets, while the design of the green knight himself, is just beautiful. Dev Patel is excellent in the lead, Joel Edgerton is his usual fabulous self, and whilst Alicia Vikander isn't given much to do, what she does is impressive. It sounds like such a great movie and one that I loved, but I was totally baffled by “The Green Knight”! I just couldn't make heads or tails out of it. Oh, and I was also put off by the obviously CGI fox that looked like, well, a CGI fox. Maybe the fact that I am not familiar with the original poem this film is based on is why I struggled so bad with it, but what I often feel is David Lowery's biggest strength is his storytelling abilities, and I just felt he let me down here in this regard.
But then so many other film fans across the world think “The Green Knight” is something very special and I have seen it on a number of top ten lists this year. That is why I am not ruling out that it is not the film's problem but my own. I will definitely watch it again, this time without any expectations, and hopefully on a second watch, it will talk to me, but sadly after my first watch, “The Green Knight” left me totally cold and was easily my biggest disappointment of the year.
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