A Review of Excalibur

 Movies should never be our primary source for learning literature though sometimes they help.

I recently saw the film Excalibur for the first time on Clear Play. The film was full of some surprises. In many ways this film comprised the ideas I always had growing up of the Arthurian stories.

I won't get into details about the plot and story line here which are largely based on L'More D'Arthur by Thomas Malory. That said, the film does include probably all of the most post popular stories of Arthur and his knights you have heard.
 What I liked most about this Arthurian film was how close it is to Thomas Malory's Text. I've seen other Arthurian films over the years including First Knight, Quest for Camelot, Camelot, Knights of the Round Table and Sword in the Stone. All of these are no doubt good films, some better than others, but I find them all to be inferior to Excalibur primarily because its accuracy to the original source material. The film seems more influenced by its taste of Medieval Literature than its Hollywood sets and stages. To many films have catered into the latter, often conforming theme and plot to grand effects and big budgets.
 Excalibur is now one of my favorite films about Medieval Times. If you haven't seen it, you need too!