Arthur et Merlin

This started off promising but as expected, with a low budget, this sort of movie degrades into B movie territory. There is a distinct lack of CGI and special effects especially at the end of the movie where so much more could have been done. The script tries to stick to a twist in the famous legend, but does not build up the protagonists' relationship up enough to make the obligatory battle against darkness believable. In one instance Merlin is dead against joining Arthur, and then all of a sudden gets random inspiration to join... "deus ex machina" galore. There are too many similar contradictions in the plot to make this truly enjoyable for me. One wish for low budget films - at least pay for a good writer, even if the acting is dodgy.

Considering the reviews so far are either 'zeroes or heroes', I thought I'd offer a middle-of-the-road approach.

This movie is by no means horrible. It reminds me of a better than average pilot for a TV series (albeit one made in the 80's), or could even pass as 'part-one' of a mini-series.

The leads are unknown, but solid without being brilliant. David Sterne who plays King Vortigern is a better than average TV actor, and he was very believable. Charlotte Brimble who plays Olwen (the lead female) does a very creditable job, and she didn't have to get her kit off to do that job either!

Special Effects were very, very, simple and wouldn't have over-stretched the budget, eg the occasional fog machine got switched on, but that worked in the movie's favour, as it meant that nothing was done 'badly'. ie there was no need to cringe at poorly constructed monsters.

The Story was also very, very, simple, but that meant that it wasn't as rushed as B-Grade movies can often feel, as they try to pack a script worthy of War and Peace into 90 minutes. The last 12 minutes were 'so-so', as endings go, but once again, 'not horrible'.

In summary, you wouldn't pay to go see it at the movies, but you wouldn't regret watching it, if it turned up on Netflix either.

It's not worth much more than an honest 5, but it's definitely not a 1!

This movie feels very much like something college students would put together, the acting isn't believable, and the story is a poor adaption. So many things they could of done if they had the creativity or ambition. Still managed to get through the 1 hour and 50 minutes, but i wouldn't recommend this to others. I understand that people want to support these independent films but they should still be honest. You don't need millions of dollars to make a creative or interesting movie. Stop trying to be a big Hollywood action movie! I did enjoy some of the locations, and not all of the acting was terrible (most of it was) but the casting was awful.

P.S. I am a big fan of king Arthur and merlin and i still didn't enjoy this movie.

I saw this rated at 8/10 here earlier and thought wow, low budget movie with a genre that I like, with actors I've never heard of.

I had to see it.

Storyline is OK, as it should be as it is based on an ancient story (Atleast I think it is) Actors are bad, sometimes in a comical way, sometimes just in a bad way.

Merlin as a boy in the beginning gives you a cringe on bad acting, but after that its watchable if you like the genre.

There is no "special effects" other than a fog that rises to cover any need for it.

The two main characters have their moments, thats pretty much all there is in this movie.

This movie kicks Hollywood b-u-t-t. I can see from some fake reviews that it hurts them badly - a movie with tiny little budget far more enjoyable than marvel-like "blockbusters".

I am looking forward to see the Hollyrottenwood crumble and be replaced with more humble movies like this one.

In Arthur&Merlin you simply enjoy the flow of time and immerse yourself inside the adventure. Special effects are used on rare occasions, but still able to make you feel the story is real. Kind of Game Of Thrones style where acting, story and sets alone do the job, not dumb CGI or hundreds of enemies thrown at heroes every other second.

And please don't get me wrong. This is still economic movie, but very good and very enjoyable for every fan of elemental wizardry :)

Best wishes from Poland! Thank You.