Cast: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury
The Green Knight isn’t an action fantasy, or even a fantasy in the way we’ve become accustomed to it: There are no dragons (though there is a whale fossil), no sparkly magic spells (though there is at least one sinister incantation and a companionable fox), no athletic sex scenes (though the whole movie is very sexy). Dev Patel plays soon-to-be-knight Gawain, who, in chopping off the head of a mysterious Green Knight during a game of chivalry, dooms himself to death when his foe challenges to return to him in a year so he can return the blow in kind—a blow that, as he is not made of magical plants, Gawain is unlikely to survive. What follows is a gorgeous, surreal fable set in the medieval world of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, sending Gawain on a quest full of ghosts, giants, and magic that turns all the trappings of its source material on its head.
The Green Knight was theatrically released in the United States on July 30, 2021, by A24. The film received positive reviews from critics.
