The tale of Sir Gawain’s encounter with the Green Knight is a torturous waiting game—after lopping off the big guy’s head and winning his axe, Gawain is forced to wait around for one agonising year to receive the same bloody treatment.
We’ve had a similarly painful wait for David Lowery’s The Green Knight, a lush and dark reimagining of this 14th-century ballad for the screen. Raise your axes to the skies in celebration, for The Green Knight gallops into cinemas and Prime Video on September 24.
The gorgeous Dev Patel stars as Gawain, with supporting players including Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Barry Keoghan, and Ralph Ineson as the foreboding voice of the titular antagonist.
Although the fantastical visuals in the trailer below might make this a sight for the big screen, Prime Video subscribers in the UK will also be able to invite Lowery’s Middle Ages mysticism into their homes. The dual release into cinemas and streaming is basically one of the only bonuses of coronavirus cinema closures—sure, we had to wait ages to catch this well-reviewed epic, but now you’ve got two screens on which to admire Dev and his various medieval weapons.
To say The Green Knight has racked up some high praise since its release in the US would be an understatement—UK audiences and critics have had a long time to get excited, and now that the film is finally screening in select cinemas, it’s becoming surrounded by a kingly volume of hype.
What a staggering film The Green Knight is – to think the UK almost lost it to streaming
— Peter Bradshaw (@PeterBradshaw1) September 17, 2021
AHHHHHHHHHHH IS THE GREEN KNIGHT ACTUALLY FINALLY GETTING RELEASED IN THE UK god is real..
— ágnes 🏳️🌈 outlawed in hungary (@meggymag) September 16, 2021
#TheGreenKnight is not just a movie. it is a cultural reset, it's the oxygen you breathe, it's a lifestyle, an escape from this cruel world filled with thieves, it's art, it's everything you've ever wanted. pic.twitter.com/VXA93n8MBv
— blank neto (@folkloration) September 11, 2021
Use our handy dandy session time finder below to see if you can make an appointment with The Green Knight in a cinema near you—or there’s always Prime Video, if you dare to let giants and chatterbox foxes into your living room.
