this should be titled "King Arthur retold". It dispenses with the myth that King Arthur dragged any sort of sword out of the stone and makes the story a raw portrayal of life in those times. The backdrop to the story is: The Romans are getting near the end of their 400 year holiday in Britain and are starting to retreat back to Rome. The Britons covered in blue woed are starting to rise up against the Romans and looking for a leader. Merlin appears in it but there is no magic to spoil the reality of the situation.

The leader is in the unlikely form of Arthur or Clive Owen who leads a group of Samerian horseman or knights and fights for the Romans as auxillarys. They are a pretty tough bunch and a good mixture of British actors gives you a good feel about the crew that are about to embark upon a rescue mission of a Roman boy who lives byond the wall(Hadrians wall) Faces of actors you know will keep popping up and all have very believable parts.

The rescue somewhat complete they are then followed by an Saxon Army that has decided to take over Britain as the Romans leave (true to life at least) The chase and subsequant battle give some very good battle and individual combat scenes. The settings are real and give a good feel about the movie and not all survive. A good solid Roman era movie that keeps things very real and some good acting - Ray Winstone plays a thug - well nothing unsual there and if you like Ray Like I do then you know this is the best role for him.