An epic fantasy adventure, The Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain (Dev Patel), King Arthur’s reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger and tester of men. Gawain contends with ghosts, giants, thieves, and schemers in what becomes a deeper journey to define his character and prove his worth in the eyes of his family and kingdom.

For in-depth thoughts on The Green Knight, please see my colleague Dom Fisher’s review from its original theatrical release here.

Video Quality

The Green Knight makes the most of its 4K 2160p presentation in 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD Blu-Ray disc. The cinematography featured in this film is among the most stunning to grace screens this year, and this disc replicates it beautifully. This presentation especially shows its worth with black levels that are incredibly deep and detailed with digital noise absent from the screen. The 4K presentation provides a depth of field that just cannot be replicated as well on a lesser format such as Blu-Ray.

Brighter scenes wow with intense clarity and a strong handle of the highlights that show no evidence of blooming. Skin tones look very realistic throughout and show a great amount of facial detail. Color highlights are another area of substantial improvement in comparison to the Blu-Ray format thanks to the implementation of Dolby Vision. Colors look natural in this presentation with multiple instances of vibrant hues featuring golds, greens, reds, purples, and more that really dazzle. Overall, this is an excellent 4K UHD presentation that offers a fantastic showing in clarity and depth.

Audio Quality

This disc comes equipped with an incredibly effective Dolby Atmos presentation that fully immerses you in this world. There are elements in this track that are truly unnerving, such as the sounds of The Green Knight thunderously stomping. Sounds are appropriately rendered with precise directionality from the more kinetic scenes to the quieter dialogue-driven scenes filled with subtle whispers. The score from Daniel Hart brings to life a truly thrilling soundscape. Dialogue is presented perfectly clearly without ever being overwhelmed by any of the competing sonic elements. The low end is engaged well when the scene calls for it and there are a lot of sonic elements at play. The sound design of this film is quite specific, and the implementation of environmental sounds is executed very effectively. The mix here is very well done with nice engagement of all the channels, which makes this track more than satisfactory for fans of the film. Optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles are provided.

Special Features

This 4K UHD Blu-Ray set available exclusively from the A24 website comes in a beautifully designed vegan leather-grained paper slipcase. The release features original artwork by Sophy Hollington and a 62-page interior booklet featuring an excerpt from “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” annotated by David Lowery, a screenplay excerpt, costume design sketches, and illustrations. The on-disc special features share no overlap with the widely released 4K UHD Blu-Ray from Lionsgate. If you want all of the extras that currently exist, you will need to own both releases. Below are the supplements on this disc:

Audio Commentary: Director David Lowery provides a new commentary track that delves deep into the production including suggestions from famous friend Ti West, landing on the title treatment, the construction of the sets, working with Dev Patel, inspirations for certain moments, and more.

Deleted Scenes: A nearly ten-minute selection of unused footage is provided that has not been color-corrected and features unfinished special effects. There are some interesting ideas worth checking out even if we understand why they were cut for time.

Oak Thorn & The Old Rose of Love – Short Film by David Lawery (2022): A 20-minute short film is provided that shows the test of love between the Lady of the Lake and a magician. This features Jackie Earle Haley and Sylvia Hoeks.

Featurettes:

- A Day In The Studio: A 24-minute piece with composer Daniel Hart and Bobak Lotfipour who delve into how they created various themes from the feature.

- The Green Knight at Weta FX: A nearly 17-minute featurette with Visual Effects Supervisor Eric Saindon, Animation Supervisor Michael Cozens, and Compositing Supervisor Simon Jung. There are some great insights into how visual effects were used to expand the scope of the feature.

- Behind The Scenes Documentary: An impressive 65-minute documentary that follows the production including looks at the construction of the set, filming on location, interviews with the cast and crew, and more.

- Dressing The Green Knight: An 11-minute interview with Costume Designer Malgosia Turzanska who discusses working with David Lowery, challenging herself to work vegan for this project, working with different materials, and more.

A Quest For Honor – RPG Spot: A 34-second trailer for a role-playing game from A24.

Final Thoughts

The Green Knight is not a film for all audiences, but those who fall under its spell with positively love it. The visual wonder that David Lowery has captured on screen is something to be appreciated as the grand work of art that it is. Dev Patel is transfixing in the lead role, and he proves once again that he is one of our most exciting performers currently working. A24 has released an exclusive Collector’s Edition 4K UHD Blu-Ray with an A/V presentation that will knock your socks off and a terrific assortment of special features. This is one of the best films of the past few years. Highly Recommended

The Green Knight [Collector’s Edition] is currently available to purchase on 4K UHD and Blu-Ray exclusively at the A24 Shop.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the 4K UHD Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: A24 has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.