TODAY'S NUGGET: Excalibur (1981) - Where are the Choices With Real Consequences?

[Quick Summary: King Arthur rises to power, but his reign is plagued with .]

This is a case of a decently written script with unfortunate story issues.

First, Arthur starts off strong, but then is overtaken by more interesting characters.

Second, Arthur does not make consistent choices that have real consequences.  Yes, he does make choices, but they seem to be driven by circumstances vs. himself.*

I picked this scene below for its character choices and real consequences.  

Note how this argument feels very human, despite that they're bargaining about magical powers.  Will  Merlin uphold his principles or fall victim to his own desire?

EXT. BATTLEMENTS, CAMELOT - DUSK

....Morgana, who has been watching from the shadows, slinks up to Merlin's side.

MORGANA: Crazy old fool. You think yourself a kingmaker. Ha! a meddler, more likely. Look what a mess you've made of things.

Merlin smiles knowingly at her.

MERLIN: I? Perhaps, perhaps. I'm losing interest, Morgana...I have helped men -- or meddled in their affairs, if you would have it that way --since the dawn of time. Now let them live by their own laws. Let them stand on their own feet. The gods of once are gone forever, it is a time for men...Morgana, make a man out of me. Kiss me.

He reaches to touch her lips. She cradles his hand in hers and doesn't allow Merlin to kiss her. SH kisses his knuckles and stares into his eyes, stoking his desire.

MORGANA: You know what I want. I want the secret of true magic, how to thicken the stuff of dreams and wishes with the flesh of the world.

MERLIN: That I cannot.

She breaks away, provocative, alluring.

MORGANA: Then I will not.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I feel when characters make choices without real consequences, it comes off as false. 

ex. Guinevere runs off with Lancelot...and isn't worried about Arthur?!

Excalibur (1981)(9/28/79 draft)
by Rospo Pallenberg and John Boorman
Adapted from "Le Morte Darthur," by Rospo Pallenberg

* As Roger Ebert puts it much better: "There is another problem, too: one common not only to many movie versions of Arthurian legends, but epidemic in the modern sword-and-sorcery genre. The people in this film seem doomed to their behavior. They have no choice. Arthur is courageous as a youth, but then presides over the disintegration of the Round Table, for no apparent reason. The brave and pure Lancelot, accused of being Guenevere's lover, engages in a deadly joust to defend her honor. Not much later, however, they make love. Merlin is a great and powerful magician, but allows Morgana to outwit him; he seems to decide from moment to moment whether to possess vast powers or none. 

Since there is no consistency in the behavior of the characters, “Excalibur” is maddeningly arbitrary. Anyone is likely to do anything, and when they do, Boorman springs another battle scene on us, with horses whinnying and swords thumping into flesh until the novelty wears thin...."