Eva Green was excellent...while Joseph Fiennes made for a good Merlin...I liked the fact that he was much more of a politician, thinker and adviser than sorcerer. If he suddenly started shooting lightning out of his arse that would have done it for me and any chance this show might have been actually good.
It wasn't, the rest of the cast, the acting, the production values were quite low. Considering the other projects from Starz, like the Spartacus series, "The Pillars Of The Earth", this was quite low on the totem pole. I mean for goodness sakes, some scenes in the series reminded me of "Xena: Warrior Princess" or "Hercules", and those shows were on TV during the 90's (entertaining for their time though), you would think that there would be some progress in CGI and special effects since then, as well as wardrobe etc. It looked like all the outfits on "Camelot" were picked up and dusted off from those shows I mentioned.
If anybody remembers, there was a show with Heath Ledger back in the 90's called "Roar". I say without any hesitation, that that show was better than "Camelot". It ran on FOX briefly before those morons cancelled it. I have that show on DVD and watched it recently, and now having seen "Camelot" I am stunned that "Camelot"'s production values are not higher than "Roar"...that show was on more than a decade ago!!!!
Heath Ledger(RIP) (he was about 19 the and this role was amongst his first), was way better than the surfer dude playing King Arthur...Jamie Bower Campbell (or whatever), and don't get me started on Tamzin Eggerton...she looks like a member of that cast of "The Hills", every time I saw her on screen I expected her to whip out her cellphone and set-up an appointment for a "mani and pedi", some botox and tit implants...Ah and Leontes, Gawyn and the rest of the Knights Of The Round Table looked like they were picked-up from an Abercrombie and Fitch catalogue, meaning they are as wooden, made-up and plastic as those model dudes...
Claire Forlani was good, as was James Purefoy in his oh so brief performance as King Lot (maybe they should have kept him around longer). But it was not enough to save the show.
I am giving the show a 6 out of 10, and mind you I'm being mightily generous, and it is only because of Eva Green, Claire Forlani, Joseph Fiennes and James Purefoy.
Strange as it seems, usually when I watched "Camelot", the part I enjoyed the most were the openning credits. That openning sequence stirred me and my imagination and set me up with the desire to want to like the show, but once the openning credits were finished, the dissapointment started.
I'll stick to "Game Of Thrones" and "The Borgias". But Starz is not done yet with period pieces as "Spartacus: Vengeance" is coming in January. I have higher hopes for that show, though without Andy Withfield in the lead role, the success of the new show remains a question mark...
Starz is kind of the poor friend of HBO and Showtime, like Kenny to Cartman, but it can do better than "Camelot" of that I'm sure. I really enjoyed the work they did with Ridley and Tony Scott's production company, Scott Free on Ken Follett's "The Pilars Of The Earth", that mini-series had a great cast, good production values. So obviously they can do much better.
How about a series on the Knights Templar, The War Of Roses (York vs. Lancaster), or a series on Hannibal, or even Robin Hood (a grittier version mind you), or maybe the Reconquista in Spain and El Cid. There are many other historical periods to be explored. Or maybe something on medieval Japan (like "Shogun"), or China, the Mongols or Tartars...What about the Vikings...I would love a freaking show with them!
I don't want to piss on "Camelot", I don't hate the show as much as I regret that it was a letdown. I can never get enough of good, intelligent, imagnative TV programmes, especially in this age of cheap reality televison where the aim is the lowest common denominator.
"Today is the tomorrow I was so worried about yesterday"--Anthony Hopkins
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