Excalibur: Limited Edition - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Excalibur: Limited Edition



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Excalibur is one of those movies that I love to hate, and hate to love. The film borders on stagey campiness, with overacting, melodrama dripping from every lip, and an early 1980s aesthetic that hovers on the verge of low-budget Sword & the Sorcerer levels. But at the same time, it’s a star-studded cast with great actors, some solid performances, and a nice twist on the classic tale of King Arthur. But at the end of the day, Excalibur is a wonderful mess of a film that leaves most audience members in a state of limbo as they decide whether they love the film or hate it.

Drawn from Sir Thomas Malory’s famous “Le Morte d’Arthuer” and some of the old poems from the day, Excalibur takes a look at the King of the Britons from a rear-loaded perspective. Glossing over the early days of Uther Pendragon (Gabriel Byrne) and Arthur’s birth, we watch our young heir apparent rise up from a squire, to pulling the sword from the stone, and subsequently falling in lust with Guenevere (Cherie Lunghi) in a similar fashion as his father. And much like his father, his son and lusts would be his undoing.

But, soon enough, Arthur’s love and home are under attack from forces both seen and unseen. We naturally get the classic tale of Guenevere’s dual love for both Arthur and Sir Lancelot, and it unfolds in roughly the same way as the story. Then there’s Arthur’s half-sister Morganna (Helen Mirren), who imprisons Merlin and begins a reign of terror upon his domain. The Knights of the Round Table begin to fall along the way in search of the holy grail, and Arthur himself must mount up one more time to face off against a rogue upstart named Mordred. And in true Arthurian legend, things don’t turn out so hot for anyone.

And once again, I must compare Excalibur to a stage production, as the sharp shifts in vignettes and time periods leap forward with the harsh screen wipes of a stage production. Each time jumping us forward in the store to advance the plot, from the raging depravity of Uther, to Arthur’s innocent love for Guenevere, to the terrible betrayal by his best friend. It’s corny, a bit fun, and overall one of the stranger productions of the 1980s. It carries with it that sense of cornball production that you would see in things like Sword & the Sorcerer, just with the budget and sensibilities of Hollywood central rather than the fringe elements that made up so many fantasy and medieval tales of the 1980s.

And while there are some things to criticize about the film (I preferred 1995’s First Knight a good bit more), the cast is incredible, ranging from Gabriel Byrne, Liam Neeson as Gawain, Sir Patrick Stewart, a young (and smoking hot) Helen Mirren, to Nicol Williamson (who would also play as the spiritual “mentor” in Spawn). And to be fair, all of those were prolific stage actors at the time, solidifying my opinion that Excalibur is part stage play, part Hollywood movie, and just struggles trying to find a homeostasis on screen.




Rating:

Rated R by the MPAA




Video:

When comparing against the aging 2011 Warner Bro’s blu-ray, this is an impressive upgrade all the way around. The original Blu-ray suffered from crush, some stagnant and clumping grain, and more than its fair share of processing. The image is crisp and clean, with great detail levels, and strangely enough, a more robust grain field. I can’t describe it completely, but it feels like the grain is richer and more present, yet still not obtrusive or overly clumping and getting in the way. Instead, it’s a bit thicker, with more visible spikes than the UHD had. Yet at the same time, I prefer the HDR/DV application on the 4K UHD disc when looking at the colors, which look a bit dimmer. But overall, this is a great looking transfer, and handily outclasses the aging 2011 Warner Bro’s. disc.









Audio:

According to my information from Arrow, the 5.1 mix included on the disc isn’t just a direct port of the Warner 5.1 mix, but rather a new mix taken from the original Mono track (which is included here as well) and is completely new. Personally, I’ll take the theatrical Mono any day of the week as it sounds the most natural. The 5.1 mix just can’t get away from its mono roots, and the surround action feels almost thin and “fake” as a result. LFE is mild on both mixes, but overall, the vocals are very clean and clear, and I could sense no signs of any major degradation from the audio stems.












Extras:

Disc One: Blu-ray

• 1080p presentation of the 141-minute Theatrical Cut
• Restored original lossless mono and DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio options
• Brand new audio commentary by Brian Hoyle, author of The Cinema of John Boorman
• Brand new audio commentary by filmmaker David Kittredge, director of Boorman and the Devil
• Archive audio commentary by director John Boorman

Disc Two: Blu-ray

• The Making of Excalibur: Myth into Movie, a never-before-released 48-minute documentary directed by Neil Jordan during the production of Excalibur
• To Be a Knight and Follow a King, a newly filmed interview with director John Boorman and actor Charley Boorman
• When Death Was but a Dream, a newly filmed interview with creative associate Neil Jordan
• The Charm of Making, a newly filmed interview with production designer Anthony Pratt
• Confessions of a Professional "Pain-in-the-", a newly filmed interview with 2nd unit director Peter MacDonald
• Anam Cara, a new featurette on the working friendship of John Boorman and co-writer Rospo Pallenberg, featuring a newly filmed interview with Pallenberg
• Divided Nature, a brand new featurette by film historians Howard S. Berger and Kevin Marr
• Trailers
• Image galleries

Disc Three: (Limited Edition Blu-ray and 4K Special Feature Disc)

• High-definition presentation of the 120-minute TV Version of the film, previously unavailable on home video
• Original lossless mono audio
• Excalibur: Behind the Movie, a 50-minute retrospective documentary in which cast and crew look back on the making of the film

Final Score: ​

I hadn’t seen Excalibur in so long that it was almost a shock to the system when, partway through, I realized “wait a minute. Sean Connery isn’t going to play old man Arthur” and I suddenly separated Excalibur and The First Knight from my mental cobwebby brain. It’s a tad goofy in today’s world, and really feels like it would fit better as a live Broadway play rather than a movie. But still, it is iconic in 80s filmography for a reason, with good performances, strange visuals, and they somehow made bank off of a comparatively thin budget even back then. Arrow’s Blu-ray limited edition is STUNNING in terms of special features and the restoration done on the original film. Fans will be highly pleased as this one is stuffed to the gills with features, including the never-before-seen TV version that sort of softens some of the R-rated content. All in all, it’s a great package that fans will be ecstatic to get hold of. Especially after having to make do with Warner’s mediocre Blu-ray release from years and years ago. And Arrow's Blu-ray and 4K UHD limited edition sets are downright IDENTICAL except for the encodes on the primary disc (both special features discs are shared across both 2160p and 1080p versions). Recommended


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, Nicholas Clay, Cherie Lunghi
Directed By: John Boorman
Written By: Thomas Malory, Rospo Pallenberg, John Boorman
Aspect Ratio: 1.67:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA Mono
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Arrow
Rated: R
Runtime: 141 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: February 24th, 2026

Recommendation: Recommended