Boorman’s film is an adaptation of Le Morte d'Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory’s 15th-century compilation of various Arthurian myths, and it spans decades. Just for starters, it’s hard to approach Excalibur’s scope.
And yet it’s all crafted so beautifully and distinctively that, 40 years later, Excalibur stands as its own version of Camelot - a shining achievement that anyone else who gets an R-rated fantasy film made is trying to beat. And I also think it’s why whenever one of these movies does find its way out into the world, it inevitably gets compared to John Boorman’s Excalibur - the 1981 retelling of the King Arthur legend that crams its 141 minutes with as much violence, lust, and utter strangeness that Boorman could muster. That could be why people are so excited by the impending release of The Green Knight - David Lowery’s medieval epic that has flown its fantasy-freak flag proudly ever since the release of its first trailer. Although Conan was followed up by a watered-down PG sequel, and Pan’s Labyrinth could be lumped into that category of “horror films that have a fantasy bent.” (See also: “Action films that have a fantasy bent,” where the Highlander franchise largely lives.)īut pure, unadulterated R-rated fantasy films, especially of the high-fantasy, sword-and-sorcery variety, are harder to come by, as Hollywood tends to envision these things as family-friendly, PG-13 affairs. Okay, maybe you came up with Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth or John Milius’s Conan the Barbarian.
I’m talking about feature films made for the big screen here. No, Game of Thrones and The Witcher don’t count those are TV shows. Quick - name a good R-rated fantasy film. Which is why it’s kind of a bummer that we’ve gotten so few envelope-pushing, adult-oriented fantasy movies over the years. By definition, fantasy stories can be as weird and wild as their creators want them to be.
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