So I’m probably the least useful person to write up this thing, because I have no friggin’ clue what the real legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is. I thought it was the guy who has his arms and legs chopped off, tbh, which on reflection is wrong in at least two ways.

And I feel like maybe you’re supposed to know the legend? Because this felt like one of those adaptations where one of the cool things it’s doing is putting up on screen the weird cool shit from the story. Like, the naked giants: Super cool visually, I have no idea what they were doing in this story, presumably they’re from the legend. So you get kind of this quest as a series of disconnected, random episodes that feel a little out of nowhere.

But a) the larger story around the quest works well, b) the episodes are intrinsically interesting even if they are episodic, and c) this movie is aesthetically great, combining lush visuals with an edgy-cool soundtrack that feels like a mashup of Jonny Greenwood and Arvo Pärt (apparently it’s by Daniel Hart, whom I’ve never heard of before) and kicky chapter title cards.

(Also, though, this movie had the absolute darkest scenes I’ve ever seen in a movie. We were eating at first, so had lights on in the room, and had to rush to finish so we could turn the lights off (like we usually do when watching movies) so we could actually see stuff; I feel like it’s the sort of thing that a lot of people would have complained about. And I’m super-glad we watched it on disc, because with those deep shadows, it would have been artifact city on streaming.)

But so yeah, I think this one repays familiarity with the source material. (Or maybe not? Maybe this is all pure invention, and it’s original randomness; as aforementioned, I have no idea.) But even without that, it’s a good story wonderfully told. Highly recommended.