"I really enjoy this tale of King Arthur from Merlin's point of view. Much of this at times is based upon who invented King Arthur in his History of the kings of Britain Geoffrey of Monmouth Shire. His work was considered the definitive of Britain's history for over 600 years, even though when he found gaps in the information on that history he added what he wanted and derived King Arthur from an amalgamation of different Celtic kings that staved off the Saxon invasion for many years. Sam Neil is very effective as Merlin and Miranda Richardson gives an outstanding performance as well. King Vortigern is wonderfully played by Rutger Hauer an actor I really like and steals any scene he is in. Every character is wonderfully played and although the effects in the film are cheesy by today's standard remember this came out on TV 1998 and CG was in its infancy and cost way more then than now. Never the less this tale is one of the better drawing from all sources including Geoffrey's, and worth the watch. The scenery is splendid and the battles are effective and fairly bloody at times. I haven't watched the sequel but I have been told not to. Merlin himself as played by Sam Neil shows range of emotion and charm and a subtle sense of power that he both uses and possibly fears. Queen Mab as played by Miranda Richardson is both beautiful and dangerous and has some subtle underlying humor to her performance. Martin Short is remarkable as Frik. I also love the scene where Queen Mab visits King Vortigern and he brings her onto his lap in a almost romantic sense and her reaction on her face is both perplexing and she seems almost powerless in his hands. Rutger Hauer again here stealing the scene from an award winning actress. The complexity between the coming one God of Christianity versus the pagan ways of old as an theme here is well done, because that is what happened and played well by all on screen. I think this is a great movie filled with some humor, love, betrayal, battles won and lost of both the physical and mental including the spiritual. There is not many TV movies with kind of heart and soul and is worth the price of admission."
Review of Merlin
