The Green Knight (UHD Blu-ray) review

[David Vaughn]

Studio: Lionsgate / A24
Release Date: October 12, 2021
Rating: R
Film: 3/5
 
Plot
An epic fantasy adventure, The Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain (Dev Patel),
 King Arthur's reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger and tester of men. Gawain contends with ghosts, giants, thieves, and schemers in what becomes a deeper journey to define his character and prove his worth in the eyes of his family and kingdom.
 
My Thoughts
I’ll watch pretty much anything starring Dev Patel and Alicia Vikander so when I saw them starring together in this film it was certainly something I wanted to see. The film is Certified Fresh from Rottentomatoes.com, but I’m not sure I’d be in this camp. For starters, the movie is extremely slow—some may describe it as poisonously slow. My wife gave up on the film about a quarter way into the production, but I decided to stick with it until the end to see if the pacing picked up. Unfortunately, it’s a slow burn for the entirety of its 129-minute runtime.
 
The video encode is excellent and at times looks damn-near perfect, but there are a few low-light scenes were details become a bit murky. The Atmos track is excellent except for some instances where the dialog is a bit hard to understand due to the accents. I had to rewatch a couple of scenes with the subtitles on to catch some important details.
 
Video 9.5/10
 
Audio 9.5/10 (Dolby Atmos)
 
Special Features:
 

• Boldest of Blood and Wildest of Heart: Making The Green Knight
• Practitioners of Magic: Visual Effects
• Illuminating Technique: Title Design
• Theatrical Trailer
• 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital Copy

 

 
Conclusion
Overall, I found this film to be average. The production design is excellent, the chemistry between the actors is good, and finally, the A/V presentation is excellent. I doubt this is something I could sit through a second time—unless I wanted to demo a few scenes for the audio—so I would recommend a rental first to see if you fall in the same camp.
 
 
Reference Review System:
JVC DLA-RS2000 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
(Calibrated with Portrait Displays CalMAN color calibration software & C6-HDR Meter from Portrait Displays)
Stewart Filmscreen - Firehawk 88” 16x9 Fixed Screen
Trinnov Altitude 16 Audio/Video Processor
ATI AT527NC Powering Bed Channels
ATI AT524NC Powering Atmos Speakers
Panasonic DP-UB820 Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
System Controller: URC MX-990
M&K S-150 THX Ultra (R-C-L Speakers)
M&K SS-150 x4 (Surround Speakers)
Atlantic Technology IC6-OBA x 4 Overhead Speakers
SVS PC-Ultra Cylinder Subwoofer
HSU VTF-15H MK2 Subwoofer
JL Audio Dominion F110 Subwoofer x 2
Mini DSP HD controlling all subwoofers
Audioquest and Monoprice - Audio/Video/Speaker Cabling
PureAV PF60 Power Conditioner

[bmoney]

Yeah I couldn’t get through it unfortunately 

[Ralph P.]

Greetings,

I rated this one slightly higher Dave but, I agree that some of its symbolism and subtext eluded me. I plan on a revisit to see if there is more to glean from it as I believe there is.


Regards,

[David Vaughn]

Greetings,

I rated this one slightly higher Dave but, I agree that some of its symbolism and subtext eluded me. I plan on a revisit to see if there is more to glean from it as I believe there is.


Regards,

Thanks Ralph. I wanted to give up but glad I stuck with it until the end, but once is probably enough for me. 

[Asharma]

As I get older, accents are getting more and more challenging for my ears/brain to pick up and decipher…There are a couple movies I couldn’t get through because of strong British accents…

I do recall on a family trip to India in 1978, having grown up in Canada, accents were hard for me to understand so it must be the wiring in my brain given I’ve had challenges with accents for years…

[Asharma]

Thanks Ralph. I wanted to give up but glad I stuck with it until the end, but once is probably enough for me.

Based on your glowing recommendation 😉😉😉 I gave this a shot tonight…I made it all the way through…I really dislike movies that are filmed very dimly…I’m not sure what the average light level is in this one but man o man certain scenes were dim…I didn’t even find the black levels great…Seemed greyish to me in some scenes…Now if I compare and contrast this dimness to something like Monster Hunter or Life, these 2 movies show out projector capabilities much more…I know I’m not discussing plot as I can’t get past the low luminance…Some of the outdoor scenes were nice and punchy however but I found the filming lacked the dynamic range that I enjoy…Good Atmos track however! One weird flick! 

[David Vaughn]

Based on your glowing recommendation 😉😉😉 I gave this a shot tonight…I made it all the way through…I really dislike movies that are filmed very dimly…I’m not sure what the average light level is in this one but man o man certain scenes were dim…I didn’t even find the black levels great…Seemed greyish to me in some scenes…Now if I compare and contrast this dimness to something like Monster Hunter or Life, these 2 movies show out projector capabilities much more…I know I’m not discussing plot as I can’t get past the low luminance…Some of the outdoor scenes were nice and punchy however but I found the filming lacked the dynamic range that I enjoy…Good Atmos track however! One weird flick!

Yes, it was very dim, but I thought the DTM in my JVC RS2000 did a pretty good job of rendering the picture. Not perfect, but not horrific either. I'm glad you agree that it was weird and the Atmos track was great

[AVSCraig]

I like weird flicks. I've watched David Cronenberg's " Crash " twice so far ( thanks David for the disc ). 

[AVSCraig]

Finally had a chance to watch this last night with 4 friends. Loved the cinematography and liked the story a lot. I'll need to watch this again. Also found the origin story quite interesting - 

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Wikipedia