Reception
Excalibur was the number one film during its opening weekend of April 10–12, 1981, eventually earning $34,967,437 gross in the United States.
Reviews for Excalibur were mixed. Widely hailed for its visuals, setting and overall design, other elements such as the story and performances some critics found wanting. Ebert, for instance, called it both a "wondrous vision" and " a mess". Elaborating further, Ebert said the film was "a record of the comings and goings of arbitrary, inconsistent, shadowy, figures who are not heroes but simply giants run amok. Still, it's wonderful to look at." Canby was more critical, saying that while Boorman took Arthurian myths seriously, "he has used them with a pretentiousness that obscures his vision." In her review in The New Yorker, Pauline Kael said the film had its own "crazy integrity", adding that the imagery was "impassioned" with a "hypnotic quality". According to her, the dialogue, however, was "near-atrocious". She concluded by saying that "Excalibur is all images flashing by... We miss the dramatic intensity that we expect the stories to have, but there's always something to look at."
Others have praised the entire film, with Variety calling it "a near-perfect blend of action, romance, fantasy and philosophy". Sean Axmaker of Parallax View said, "John Boorman's magnificent and magical Excalibur is, to my mind, the greatest and the richest of screen incarnation of the oft-told tale." In a later review upon the Excalibur's release on DVD, Salon's David Lazarus noted the film's contribution to the fantasy genre, stating that it was "a lush retelling of the King Arthur legend that sets a high-water mark among sword-and-sorcery movies." A recent study by Jean-Marc Elsholz demonstrates how closely the film Excalibur was inspired by the Arthurian romance tradition and its intersections with medieval theories of light, most particularly in the aesthetic/visual narrative of Boorman's film rather than in its plot alone.
Excalibur currently has an 79% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Many young actors who have risen to stardom today, such as Helen Mirren, Patrick Stewart, and Liam Neeson featured in this film in notable screen roles, playing Morgana, Leondegrance and Gawain respectively. For his performance as Merlin, Nicol Williamson received widespread acclaim. The Times in 1981 wrote: "The actors are led by Williamson's witty and perceptive Merlin, missed every time he's offscreen".
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