Excalibur (1981)

A dying king places a sword in a stone to only be taken out by someone worthy. That someone, his son Arthur, becomes the new king and puts together a band of knights who congregate around a table. Over the years, he and his people face all manner of triumph and tragedy. Even if you haven't read Sir Thomas Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur, you've probably heard of King Arthur, Merlin, the Round Table, etc. The tale of a boy pulling a magical sword from a stone and becoming king is one of those timeless stories. And of course it's been adapted for the big and small screens for years.

Making films based on great literature is one good way to keep it alive. These days with all these distracting gadgets, we need that. The legend of King Arthur in particular has been adapted many times, in different forms. My parents generation had the wonderful Disney film The Sword in the Stone, which has reached new fans since. My generation however had this live action version from Deliverance director John Boorman. Whereas the Disney one is more kid friendly, this is a more gritty and violent take on the legend.

After the critical and financial failure of Exorcist II: The Heretic, it's no surprise Boorman waited a while to direct again. His work before that had been pretty great and the good news is that he's on top of his game here. On a budget of $11 million, he and his team created a sweeping epic. The cast that he assembled is strong, with Nicol Williamson as Merlin being a real scene stealer. Nigel Terry, who plays Arthur from his teens to adulthood, shows great range as his character evolves.

Another of the film's highlights is the spectacle, of which it has in spades. The cinematography is simply gorgeous, really capturing the lush Irish landscape. In period films one expects the costume and set designs to be so good they make us feel like being there. This is certainly the case here because both are rich and made in great detail. The film also has real gritty look and feel to it and though there are effects, the fantasy element is played down a bit.

Trevor Jones, who went on to score hits like Labyrinth and Dark City, created a spellbinding score. It compliments the scenes very well and gets the blood pumping during the battle scenes. Speaking of that, there are quite a few epic battle sequences to enjoy. There are also many epic moments like when the sword is conjured from the lake. At near 2 hours and 20 minutes, the film flows at a good steady pace that rarely lags. It's one of those films that hooks you at frame one and keeps you on the edge till the end.

Excalibur is not a perfect film, but most of it's flaws are easy to overlook. One that really isn't is the fact they tried to cram so much into this. Arthur's journey from squire to king could have used more fleshing out, especially his relationship with Guinevere. It's too bad, but hardly enough to derail such a masterful film experience. It's great to revisit films like this to see how it was done pre-CGI and luckily this one has held up.

10/10