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Excalibur 1981

I do not understand the positive reviews of this film, for me it is a mish-mash without any logic and when I was watching it, it was really hard for me not to wonder what drugs the filmmakers took :( I am currently reading Malory's "Le Morte'd Arthur" and the film is not faithful to this book but rather there are significant changes which cannot be reasonably explained. There are lots of scenes with knights riding around without any particular purpose, as if the filmmakers did not know what to do with the characters. There are some gratuitous and explicit sex scenes. The only interesting thing was the relationship between Morgana and Merlin, in which he kind of mentors her like he taught Nimue and has some fatherly feelings towards her, but she eventually betrays him just like Nimue did by imprisoning him in a cave.

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This movie is without a doubt the best adaptation of King Arthur. The acting is spectacular, the visual style is stunning, the action is excellent, the themes from the source material are all there, and the costumes/sets are the best I have ever seen. I don't think anyone will ever make an adaptation that stays so true to Arthurian legend, manages to cover the entirety of the story, and still ends up so amazing.

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5

Shout by SigHunter
VIP
9
BlockedParent2023-11-27T19:00:13Z— updated 2023-12-01T21:30:59Z

on the upside, the movie showed a few noteworthy and beautiful landscapes and castles. however, there was serious overacting from every actor. maybe that was just the way acting worked in the early 80s. I really hoped for a gem here, but overall it was a total waste of time. just a sequence of random scenes, time jumps partly with different actors for the same character, no clear distinguishable story, terrible voice over (lips moving while nobody talks, terrible background voices), the producers must have taken some pretty sick drugs, otherwise I don't know how one can come up with so much weird crap. there was way too much screen time for merlin and we started laughing everytime he talked, because most of his lines were pretentious bullshit. maybe one needs to know the general story beforehand, I knew nothing about it

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9

Shout by Saint Pauly
BlockedParent2021-04-04T23:03:03Z— updated 2021-04-08T18:57:00Z

Excalibur is why I love movies so much.

I first saw this epic fantasy as a child, decades ago, when I was too young to know how to dislike a film. The extravagance, the splendor, the passion profoundly affected me and magically transported me to another world.

To this day, cinema still has that power, and even now when I watch this masterpiece and recognize its flaws, I am magically transported out of this life...

Anál nathrach, orth’ bháis’s bethad, do chél dénmha.

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Brilliant movie, the first movie I saw multiple times at the movie theater. Nicol Williamson steals the show as Merlin.

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I can appreciate the strong attempt to cover this legend, but I think it could’ve benefited from an increased emphasis on character and relationship building.

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3

Shout by Keldian
BlockedParent2024-01-05T00:31:05Z— updated 2024-01-16T18:26:27Z

Just a comically bad movie, very low effort and low budget feeling even by early-80s standards. If you manage to endure one hour of this travesty you get to meet exactly one character who isn't totally one-dimensional, Morgana, and as soon that arc becomes mildly intriguing she takes an unceremonious (yet somewhat funny) exit as the train wreck resumes its course.

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This is what passed as an epic in 1981. It is also a movie not suited for everyone.
I haven't seen this for probably twenty years but it has aged well and still holds up. It's like watching a theatre play made into a movie. And even at 140 minutes it feels too short. There is an abundance of actors you will recognize who have become stars later on.
Like I said, not for everyone but a piece of movie history.

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Fantastic version of the myth of King Arthur's court.

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image 3,25 / 5 and sound 3/5 . Still like music and sounds great

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