John Boorman’s Excalibur plays by its own set of rules. The rise of King Arthur (Nigel Terry), the meddling of Merlin the Magician (Nicol Wiliamson), and the dark influence of Morgana the Witch (Helen Mirren) aren’t just plot points, but powerful swoons of emotional catharsis fueling a half-remembered version of history. The one constant in Boorman’s reimagining of Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur is the sword Excalibur, a reflector of man’s endless potential and crippling ego. The weapon becomes Excalibur’s thematic sledgehammer, a trigger for ideological and social shifts across an epic medieval tale seeped in stylized melodrama.
While Boorman’s 1974 sci-fi fantasy film Zardoz anchors its lunacy to a breakneck forward momentum, Excalibur languishes in the moment of individual conflicts. From the very beginning, when King Uther (Gabriel Byrne) uses Merlin’s magical “dragon’s breath” to hide in plain sight and impregnate Queen Igrayne (Katrine Boorman), it’s clear that Boorman is interested in mood over narrative coherence. The heavy bursts of dialogue come across as almost instinctual instead of rationally thought out.
When Arthur, the offspring of the king and queen, fulfills his destiny and pulls the sword from the stone, his quick ascent from bug-eyed squire to all-powerful king is logically ludicrous. Yet Boorman and co-writer Rospo Pallenberg makes no room for irony here, and we take each similar twist of fate at face value because of the tonal consistency.
From here, Excalibur progresses like a dream, with everything from Lancelot (Nicholas Clay) and Guenevere’s (Cherie Lunghi) betrayal to the quest for the Holy Grail unfolding organically like the passing of seasons. Throughout, the processes of nature are linked to human moods. When Uther beds Igrayne early in the film, a wall of fire surrounds their contorting bodies.
Later, a naked Lancelot and Guenevere embrace in the moss-covered woods, the glint of green reflecting off the landscape almost consuming the lovers in wide angle. Tricked by Morgana during the film’s heavy-handed third act, Merlin becomes encased in ice, only to escape when he morphs into a dream figure that cannot be contained by nature.
The effects of betrayals, murders, and deceits are evident in everything from armor splattered in blood to faces caked in mud. But despite its fascinating visual approach (specifically the crazy representations of magic and sex), the film remains a bloated cinematic whale, wooden when it should be action-packed and tedious during supposed emotional epiphanies.
What is Boorman after with such a hallucinatory and ultimately sluggish revision of King Arthur’s life and legend? Perhaps it’s to reveal the flawed humanity beneath the legend. The characters are consistently conflicted over their duty to competing interests, cognizant of how they will be remembered. “The future has taken root in the present,” says Merlin at one point, and the tension in those and other words helps to bring the film to life in fits and starts.
Image/Sound
Presented for the first time in HD, Excalibur’s 1080p transfer illuminates the artificial color schemes and intricate costume design that dominates the frame. The prominence of green fluorescent lights, especially in the forest and lake sequences, is indicative of John Boorman’s outlandish, even hilariously overdone vision of history. The biggest differences between the film on DVD and Blu-ray can be seen during the exterior night sequences. When Arthur rides up a fiery hill to meet the Knights of the Roundtable, the entire mountainside is aglow in bright orange layers, and the level of detail is astounding. The DTS-HD MA sound design is rightfully clear, more affirmable for the booming musical score than the sometimes quiet and mutable dialogue.
Extras
The only supplement (aside from a measly theatrical trailer) is a leisurely paced but highly enjoyable audio commentary by John Boorman. He talks about the many production disasters that befell Excalibur, including the devastating opening week that saw the film’s initial battle sequence underexposed two straight times, leading the cameraman to have a nervous breakdown and quit. Boorman’s soft-spoken voice lovingly remembers Excalibur from a distance, as if it represented a long-forgotten dream he’s just now remembering.
Overall
On Blu-ray for the first time, John Boorman’s Excalibur is a staggering achievement of bloated artifice, dismantling the Arthur Legend one invigorating aesthetic swipe at a time.
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