Favorite Friday #3: Excalibur

I love this poster.

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FAVORITE FRIDAY!!!

Today's fantastic feature film for Friday feasting: Excalibur!!

Excalibur is in my opinion the best version of the King Arthur story on film. Many would say "but what about King Arthur with Clive Owen?" NO! Guinevere did not cover herself in blue finger paint."But what about First Knight?" Richard Gere trying to talk with English accent is FAR too distracting.

There are no other really good live action King Arthur films worth mentioning here beyond a musical or two.

Nope. Excalibur is as close to the original fairy tale/legion of Morte D'Arthur by Thomas Malory as any film I've seen worth any salt. On top of that the movie is actually a good movie.

Their prop master must have been pissed: look at all the mud!

Now everyone knows the Arthurian legend, at least to some degree, so I don't really need to go over the plot to the film. I know it's always a concern when movies come out about stories that have been done a million times that they're boring or overdone or trying to be original or whatever. That being said, what I really like about Excalibur is how new it feels without being too different from the King Arthur stories we all know and love. Don't misunderstand, they don't make up things and add in new stuff (like in King Arthur(2004)--trying to make the square peg of Arthurian legend fit into the round hole of written roman/Briton history *rolls eyes*). It's merely the actual old story with awesome 80's over-the-top film-making. The same special effects that made the Conan movies fan-favorites. Huge messy, dirty, bloody fighting scenes where you have to squint to make sure that yes that IS Patrick Stewart under all that dirt and blood fighting with a big sword. No slo-mo, close up on hero's face with hair flipping as he spins around to look at the battle-field carnage. Nope! We've got something 10X better!!! Gross, "we're ruining the suits of armor" sets, unabashedly bloody battle scenes involving severed limbs and other delectably fake movie-carnage. Knowing what happens helps you appreciate the finer details of the film--like coming back to look at a picture on a wall for a second time.

Helen Mirren as Morgana--she was smokin'!

Now I mentioned Patrick Stewart, which brings me to another point. These aren't unknown actors, playing these characters. These are modern day heavy weights portraying characters like Gawain (Liam Neeson), Morgana (Helen Mirren), Leondegrance (Patrick Stewart), Lot (Ciaran Hinds), and King Uther Pendragon (Gabriel Byrne). While virtually un-cultified at this point (Neeson would later have roles in Taken (2008), Batman Begins (2005), and Gangs of New York (2002); Mirren
in Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999), The Queen (2006), and Red (2010); Stewart in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987-94) and the X-Men films ; Hinds in HBO's Rome (2005-07), Munich (2005), and Miami Vice (2006); Byrne in Assault on Precinct 13 (2005), End of Days (1999), and The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)), these actors are recognizable film figures today. As Hollywood and stage contenders (Nicol Williamson, who played Merlin, was a huge stage actor though he was notable as Coliostro in Spawn (1997)) these actors brought weight to the film, illuminating the otherwise unknown actors (though Byrne and Nieson were fairly unknown at the time).

Clay and Boorman as Lancelot and Guinevere

As for the remaining cast-- just because the other cast members, most notably all the leading roles Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Mordred, aren't anyone incredibly famous doesn't mean they suck. Because they don't. These actors realize that this film would be their crowning glory (pun intended) and so they act their hearts out--to great effect. Nigel Terry as Arthur, Katrina Boorman as Guinevere and Nicholas Clay as Lancelot create the perfect chemistry, artistry and tragic drama one would expect with Camelot's royal love triangle. It's just magic to watch.

Nigel Terry as King Arthur

It goes without saying that I love this movie. Give it a try and I'm sure you'll love it as much as I do.  It's a fairy tale for grown ups that always satisfies my desire for fantasy, metal on metal action and tragic drama. Enjoy!