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Remember all those other movies about King Arthur? Forget them, they're all garbage compared to this. Let me start out with the story, told from the perspective of the Wizard Merlin, he talks about his childhood and how he became a wizard. Then later the story develops into Excalibur, and later on Arthur joins in. The mini-series is strikingly similar to the actual legends of Camelot, it doesn't leave a single thing out whereas most stories focus on Arthur or Excalibur this goes all the way through the legends the way they were originally written so many years ago. Most movies exclude Mordred, and a recent King Arthur flick was way off with accuracy, making Queen Guinevere an archer in the middle of a war.The Old Ways refers to the Lady of the Lake and her sister Queen Mab, supreme beings who fear that Christianity will be the end of them. The story continues on that theme, as one of them tries anything in their power to prevent being forgotten. The script is beautifully done, kudos to whoever wrote that. It has plenty of emotions, betrayal and death. Trevor Jones' music is simply wonderful as well, his slow and powerful melodies are beautiful. He is truly an under-apreciated composer. Sam Neil was a perfect choice for Merlin with those deep eyes and stern voice. The special effects can be deemed cheesy, but I think they fit very well into the film-- too much razzle dazzle can take away from the film (there's even two scenes where they use bullet time, that camera technique used in the Matrix).It's easy for me to write bad reviews, but trying to review a masterpiece like this is always hard to do. There's so little to complain about aside from how they seemed to rush the story along at points, but that helps keep interest. You are a fool not to see this film, as it is probably the best adaptation to the legend of Camelot ever made.
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