Gladiator meets (celtic) King Arthur

Rating: 6/10 (5 January 2009)

I'd give this movie 6 and a half stars, it's a very watchable tale in the vein of "Gladiator meets King Arthur". Completely dreamed up, of course, and promoting a typically skewed view of the ancient world, but serious fans of Ancient Rome (like myself) shouldn't expect a big budget spectacle to be more interested in real history than Indiana Jones. It takes the ambition of an Oliver Stone to break up the usual mold of the "heroic fantasy with modern political overtones" genre as defined by "300" and "Gladiator". Anyone interested in the facts can read up on Wikipedia. In short: Not much is known about the last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, besides that he was deposed and succeeded by the Germanic king Odoacer, as a child. Augustulus' father Orestes came from modern day-Yugoslavia, had served under Attila the Hun (now there's a story!) and usurped the Roman throne. In terms of old-fashioned "Romanness" and claim to divine descent from the likes of Julius Caesar, Romulus Augustulus is about as true as the Roman legions of that time. But his (short?) life must surely have been interesting, and his vainglorious name embodies all the hope and hubris of an empire long past its prime.
Other than historical names like Romulus, Orestes and Vortigern, the movie is entirely fictitious and in part attempts to rewrite the King Arthur Saga, complete with Ambrosinus/Merlin conjuring up fire out of thin air and a "romanesque" version of Excalibur. Whether little Romulus, given his family background, would have seen Celtic emblems and rituals as anything other than barbaric hocus-pocus would be an interesting question. The historic Lord Vortigern, who is also said to have invited the Saxon invasion by settling the first Germanic mercenaries in Britain, is cast as a villainous celtic priest who wants to steal the fabled sword of Caesar from Romulus.
Two things I did not like: The over-pretentious, occasionally boring music and the predictability. The main characters besides Romulus are action stereotypes - Not-Red-but-Black-haired Sonya falls in love with Die-Hard-Hero, and together they do what is right until destiny parts them, or not. Given that we know that little Romulus definitely didn't regain his lost throne, it's fairly hard for the story-writers to come up with a meaningful positive ending. So it's basically "and they lived happily ever after".
Two things I did like: The costumes, the action and the overall making - nothing special, but not bad either - and the attempt to make something out of a neglected part of Roman history, if fictitious and by stealing other people's ideas, i.e. the Arthur Legend.