Excalibur

Rospo Pallenberg did one heck of a job taking the classic Thomas Malory interpretation of the Authurian legend allowing director John Borman to bring this one in at just under two and a half hours which was no small task. This then and future all-star cast present this classic story in a true visual fairy tale style and while it may look dated, which is odd when you consider it is supposed to be set in the dark ages, it only does so when compared to the likes of THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and such. Nigel Terry almost seems outclassed along the likes of Nicol Williamson and Helen Miren and when you have Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson and Gabriel Byrne in the mix it's easy to see why. Still, EXCALIBUR is the most true to soul adaptation we have of King Arthur and his knights of round and unless somebody is prepared to do a proper four of five hour high budget version it will remain so for some time.