It seemed like a great idea: a movie about the original man behind the King Arthur legends. According to the writer’s pet theory, this was a half-Briton officer in the Roman army, stationed at Hadrian’s Wall. The Knights of the Round Table are a band of bonded Samarite mercenaries and Merlin is a woad-painted leader of Britons. The story is pretty good in principle, involving an attempt to rescue a Roman family and their serfs as the Roman Empire withdraws from Britain and is being replaced by invading Saxons.
Everything seemed well set up for a good film, so all in all it is a shame that it was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. I bet the first draft of the script was brilliant.