Excalibur Returns
Tue, July 28, 2009 
From a technical standpoint (especially in today's age of CG everything up the ass), it's cornball as Hell. But dammit, Excalibur is one fucking great movie. In fact, it continues to be among my favorite films of all-time (along with stuff like Being There, JFK, Marty, Raiders of the Lost Ark and George Romero's Dawn of the Dead!) You'll never find a better King Arthur on screen than Nigel Terry and especially Merlin in the form of Nicol Williamson.
Now comic-book writer Warren Ellis reveals (via his official website) that he's hard at work on a treatment for a new King Arthur film - that happens to be titled Excalibur. So does that mean we're getting a more visually adequate and up-to-date adaptation of Mallory's Le Morte de Arthur?
Not necessarily as Ellis clarifies to Aint-It-Cool-News:
"'Untitled Arthurian Project,' as I call it (just so I can't feel John Boorman's EXCALIBUR looming down at me from my DVD shelf), differs from the prior 751 King Arthur movies in many ways, but perhaps most obviously in that it is very specifically about the gathering of the Knights."
As Ellis accurately puts it, there are plenty of cinematic versions of the Arthurian myth for people to enjoy. So if someone opts to deviate towards their own take, that's perfectly fine.
Let's just hope the one thing these two Excaliburs ultimately have in common are the "blood, guts and all" battle sequences. That, and let's go for unknowns in the lead roles please.
Reader Comments (3)
Warren Ellis, and King Arthur? I'm sold.
Excalibur is one of my favorite movies of all time, too.
YES!!! I can't wait, big fan of this genre.