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Customer Reviews of Excalibur

A lavishly designed epic with an inciting mixture of myth, dream and magic...
Along with Ken Russell, John Boorman can be seen as a key figure in the modern British cinema... His interest in myth, dream, landscape and memory may be compared with that of Resnais, Leone, and Roeg... <
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>Boorman's 'Excalibur' is characterized by his use of jealousy and adultery, sex and sorcery... It is also characterized by fire and fog, shadow and moonlight, creating an air of mystery that is essential element in the Arthurian legend... <
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>Boorman's 'Excalibur' is a mythical presentation leading the viewers to travel with the flow of the legend... It is a magical story with wonderful exotic sets, and interesting camera-work in the lush green scenery of Ireland... (The Cinematography won an Academy Award Nomination). <
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>Boorman's "Excalibur" is both fantasy and philosophy... Love seems to be a destructive force, lyrically beautiful and bravely realistic... <
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>The film brings to life the fateful story of a solitary hero, his ascension to the throne, the love triangle of Camelot, the quest for the Holy Grail, the decline and eventual fall of Arthur and Camelot... Along for the ride are his indispensable Knights of the Round Table, particularly Sir Lancelot... <
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>The characters in Boorman's "Excalibur" are extremely well developed... Arthur is seen as a naive squire, who develops into an idealistic king... Arthur tries to use Might for the establishment of Right, and according to his own laws, he puts reason over love... <
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>A prominent figure in the film is Merlin... He lives backwards, which makes him "a dream to some, a nightmare to others." He defines the cave of the dragon as a place where all things meet their opposite: "The future and the past, desire and regret, knowledge and oblivion". But when Morgana pronounces "love", one would expect Merlin to answer "hate", but he just says: "O yes." <
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>Morgana knows that Uther and Merlin are responsible for the death of her father... She dedicates her life to revenge.. Her scenes with Merlin are full of fire and poison... When she steals the "charm of making" from Merlin, Morgana gets stronger... We feared her lines when she affirmed: "I can ease your loneliness." <
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>Lancelot looks at himself as a sinful person who has betrayed a friend... He stays lonely in the forest, haunted by sorrow and pain... He dreams of a fight with himself... And when he wakes up naked, he sees his own sword stuck in his side... The film endures and inspires because it embodies mankind's deepest yearnings... <
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>Among the many elements that make the movie work is the cast: Nigel Terry, the rightful King who, accidentally, removes the sword of power easily, not once, but twice; Helen Mirren, the enchantress Morgana, Merlin's nemesis and Arthur's treacherous half-sister, who seduces Merlin, and then encircles him in a stream of vengeance; Nicholas Clay, persuasively ardent and athletic as the First Knight; Cherie Lunghi, the damsel in distress who loves her husband with her mind and Lancelot with her heart; Nicol Williamson, the wily Merlin who would see that the young Arthur receive the necessary training and guidance to fulfill his unlikely destiny; Gabriel Byrne, the hot-blooded Uther Pendragon, who plunges 'Excalibur' deep into a stone rock in one last act of defiance; Katrine Boorman, the woman taken as by a fully armored King; Liam Neeson, the knight who dares to accuse the Queen; and Robert Addie, the 'unholy child' who comes to Camelot to demand the throne of his father... <
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>One of the more fascinating aspects of the film (and there are many...) are the differences between Uther and Arthur... King Uther is unable to master his instincts... His world is confusion, disorder, and unlimited passion... The characteristic developments of Arthur occur as he faces the trials of his life... The knowledge of the affair yet his love for his beautiful wife and best friend wage war inside of his mind... When he sees Guinevere in the arms of Lancelot, he stuck 'Excalibur' between them loosing his connection to the extraordinary powers of Merlin and the Lady of the Lake... <
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>John Boorman's films frequently concern contradictions and polarities, tensions between nature and civilization, dream and reality... Equally, his career as a whole swings violently between success and failure, intelligent ambition and pretentiousness... <
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The biggest story ever told
One of the most exciting things for an "english language fan" is enjoying the story, the interpretation and the old and beautiful way of speaking the language showed in this title. Wonderful sound, the eternal story, something to spend one of the best moments of your life. Great without any doubt.

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One of the worst films ever.
This review is a warning. Do NOT subject yourself to this movie. In Excalibur, the often mind-numbingly awful filmmaking of John Boorman (Zardoz, folks) reaches a nauseating crescendo. At a running time of approximately 14,000 hours, it is a bloated misfire of epic proportions, being simultaneously horrible, boring, laughable, and way too long. It's as though the production started out with grand, epic intentions, and then Boorman decided "hey let's find the worst actors ever, give them the worst lines ever, write the most retarded script ever seen, and then spend 75% of the budget on LSD." Honestly, Monty Python did a far better job of portraying the King Arthur legend. It is really too much of a strain to go into any great detail about exactly WHY this movie blows so much, but please take my word for it. The acting is weirdly ineffective and dense (as is often the case with Boorman). This is partly the fault of the dialogue, which always seems to be hinting at some higher meaning, but in reality it's just pretentious fluff. The main characters are weak, unlikable, and usually look pretty stupid in their goofy outfits (Mordred has to be seen to be believed). Take King Arthur himself for example. Nigel Terry is so painfully un-tough in the roll that he makes Winnie the Pooh look like a Hell's Angel. Another one is Merlin, who ends up being this creepy weirdo that nobody would want hanging around in reality. You end up hating them all so much you really don't care if they get killed. In fact you may even take some giddy pleasure in watching them get picked off one by one. The strongest performance is delivered by the inanimate piece of metal that served as Excalibur itself. One need only bear witness to what may be the most apalling scene in movie history to sum up this movie. Of course I'm talking about the full armor rape scene, complete with roaring flames and full choral accompanyment. Hideously awkward to watch no matter who you're with, it's best to just laugh nervously and fast forward through it. To make matters worse, the filming is consistently dark and creepy, and only serves to make the proceedings even more bizarre. It's like one of those demented nightmares where nothing makes sense and everything looks weird too. <
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>The first time I saw Excalibur I was almost fooled into thinking it was a good movie. It sneaks up on you, because the beginning is not all that terrible. Then it just goes on and on and on and on, getting stupider and stupider like General Hospital or something, and you start to realize "wow I really don't care how this ends, but hopefully they'll all die." It wouldn't be nearly as bad if it didn't take itself so incredibly seriously. There isn't a single glimpse of humor anywhere. Anyway, I've said enough. It's not that the special effects are dated or that I just "don't get it." The problem with Excalibur is that it's just a really bad movie in every way. You have been warned.