'The Green Knight' film review: Eerie, surreal realization of a medieval tale

For an Arthurian story packed with the supernatural, the Knights of the Round Table, monsters and witches ... the medieval fantasy 'The Green Knight' (in theaters July 30) is a strange and fantastical hero's story.

In short: Unproven Sir Gawain (Dev Patel) must leave Camelot to return an axe to a mysterious Green Knight after accepting a deadly challenge. Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Harris, Barry Keoghan and Ralph Ineson also star.

'The Green Knight' is a rewarding, faithful retelling of 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,' a 14th century chivalric romance poem. Without going full medieval literary lesson here, the chivalric romances were basically adventure stories that extolled the heroic qualities held by a knight: heroism and honor. These stories defined the standard of 'chivalry' for centuries, illustrating the virtues of an honorable knight.

The absolute key to enjoying the film is realizing what 'The Green Knight' is and what it certainly is not. This is not an action-packed, sword-swinging adventure following Sir Gawain kicking ass alongside the Knights of the Round Table. The Knights of the Round Table are basically extras - knight-looking guys in armor without lines of dialogue. Rather, this is an atmospheric and moody story of a hero drawn by temptation as he attempts to fulfill an ominous obligation. The standard, plot driven medieval adventure flick is happy to just throw some reluctant hero into a crisis, and let him save the day. That formula is almost completely inverted with ‘The Green Knight,’ with a protagonist without any heroic anecdotes to tell, recklessly volunteering for an adventure that tests his spirit more than his body. Rather that pit the sword-swinging hero with some legendary weapon on an epic quest to save the world - this story touches upon the fundamentals of what makes any character a hero, the values of a hero and what compels anyone to want to attain heroic greatness.

The story finds a young, aspiring knight without any heroic stories or brave deeds to recount to his liege. Sir Gawain spends his nights with women and drink - he is a member of King Arthur's court but untested and without formal knighthood. This basic unpinning absolutely defines the rest of the story: an aspiring, untried hero in search of an adventure worthy of a hero. Without spoiling the story as much as possible, Sir Gawain hastily makes an agreement with the strange and seemingly supernatural Green Knight - and to uphold his end of the agreement, Gawain must travel to a faraway chapel to return the Green Knight's ax. It's a super simple and relatively straightforward premise that leaves plenty of room for Gawain's true conflict: that which tests his bravery, loyalty and honor.

Gawain's journey is itself an honor-bound duty - one that presents a completely uncertain future him. He knows full well just returning the Green Knight's weapon could result in is his death, yet he's compelled to fulfill his obligation. The story, time and again, tests his bravery as a knight and his faithfulness as a man. The choice that makes 'The Green Knight' compelling is Gawain as an imperfect man in search of honor. If the 14th century poem sings the praises of Gawain as a man above reproach who effortlessly parries temptation at every turn, then this film is a more humane take on the Arthurian character.

Writer-director David Lowery ('A Ghost Story') has crafted a work that quite literally feels like a medieval bard's song fully realized as a film. Gawain's journey from Camelot toward the unknown is set in a world that has texture and depth. This is a dreamlike, entrancing tale of one man in search of heroism, while defending his own loyalty and valor along his long and winding path toward possible death. Lowery has taken some liberties with the original story - but the minor pivots bring Gawain's internalized journey into greater focus. The atmospheric eerie tone and string-infused score injects 'Green Knight' with an encroaching darkness. This is a rich and visceral morality tale that values heroism above all, aspirational glory and the cost of greatness.

Final verdict: Every scene and moment is directly connected to Gawain's chivalry - even when his actions are honorable, Lowery's bold script makes clear that Gawain is a morally conflicted man in search of archetypal heroism worth of the legendary Round Table.

Score: 4.5/5

'The Green Knight' opens in theaters starting July 30. This medieval fantasy is rated R for violence, some sexuality and graphic nudity and has a runtime of 125 minutes.