ARTHUR & MERLIN is an indie-budget retelling of the Arthurian legends, in which the heroic Arthur and Merlin must join forces to tackle an evil druid and King Voltigern. What I can say in this film's favour is that it's actually set in the Dark Ages unlike most Arthurian retellings, so it looks good; the costumes and wooden huts all have that air of authenticity to them. Unfortunately the film itself is clumsily plotted and quite boring, lacking the most basic elements of structure and narrative to make it remotely watchable. The cast give bored performances, there's no attempted characterisation, and the story just drags and drags.

I've long been a fan of the various legends surrounding Arthur and Merlin. This movie took quite a different turn on them but did it in a very good way. I've seen many ratings here (I read them all before watching the movie). There are those who rate it highly stating it's an amazing film despite this or that and those who rate it lowly stating the acting is horrible. Neither are completely wrong. The acting isn't the best I've ever seen but it's not awful either. Acting was believable enough to allow you to get immersed in the story and that's all I ever really ask for. The plot was well done though a bit rushed in some places and the overall feel of the movie was excellent. I also really liked that they didn't rely on special effects to tell the story. There were a few... some fog, some smoke... a little fire... but overall the story was done mostly through good storytelling and decent acting.A solid movie. It's not a blockbuster by any stretch but it was a great way to spend a couple hours on a day off.

Now, I'm a sucker for medieval stuff like this, so I watched it in spite of the reviews.It's actually not a bad story as these things go (but crying out for a sequel which will probably never happen - if by same writer/director, thank goodness!) but it's desperately marred by some poor story development and very poor dialogue. Apart from the general tenor, it's anachronistic and not always delivered well. It jars and stands out. For an example of tongue-in-cheek medieval dialogue that works look no further than Schwarzenegger's Conan.And why, oh why, change the names? Arthfael, Myrrdin, and is Olwen supposed to be Guinevere? What's the point? The whole thing's a fiction anyway, so if it was supposed to be for 'historical accuracy' it's a total nonsense.It's probably getting the IMDb rating it deserves. As a sword & sorcery epic it's not up to much but if you like the Arthur mythos then give it a whirl.

Recently I watched two blockbusters which I thought to have missed in the cinema: Maleficent and John Carter. Both I haven't watched until the end. Since I'm a big fan of the Arthur saga since my childhood I decided to give this non-blockbuster movie a try for my Saturday night cinema hour. And now I must say there was way more fun and excitement in this low budget production as in the aforementioned ones made by one of the biggest entertainment companies. What did these films cost? How many such great small but fine films like Arthur & Merlin could have produced with this money? My insight from tonight is that I will look much more after such unknown but great productions, than watching ultimately to often the same crap out of the so-called top film league. Sorry, but people who only rate this based on its low production standards are not true cineasts.