"Camelot": King Arthur's story retold with a dude and a hot chick

It's interesting that there's a Kennedy family mini-series starting the same weekend as "Camelot" (Starz, 10 tonight).

Besides sharing the whole Arthurian motif, the two stories share an allure for filmmakers who like to try to retell the stories every couple of years.

I don't know about the latest take on the Kennedys, but "Camelot" is pretty good, a sometimes trying-too-hard-to-be serious, brooding moody take on the legend with some nicely played performances.

The 10-episode season first introduces us to Morgan (Eva Green), the estranged daughter of King Uther, who's mad at the king and his new wife, in a murderous sort of way. Once dad's dispatched, she's ready to take power, but must do it by making an alliance with his archenemy King Lot (James Purefoy). That involves a gratuitous scene of them doing the nasty in a very vocal way.

Meanwhile, upon the death of the king, Merlin (Joseph Fiennes) hits the road to fetch Uther's hidden son Arthur (Jamie Campbell Bower), a surfer dude-looking lad whom we first meet as he's about to boink his brother's girl. The once and future king definitely looks like a longshot for glory.

But Merlin knows it's his destiny and we know Arthur will rise to that destiny, don't we?

I got a look at two episodes and I'd say Green steals the show; Morgan is a tough chick, smart, ruthless, not a great sister. Bower doesn't seem her match; I get he's supposed to be on a learning curve but he's also supposed to have been getting ready for this role all his life. Instead, he seems pretty lightweight. Fiennes is fun too; his Merlin is growly and mysterious and dramatic. He doesn't use magic (at least not yet), instead coaching Arthur to trust himself.

As you might expect, besides sex, there's a whole lot of goring and stabbing in "Camelot." One scene in episode forced me to put my squeamish self in timeout to recover.

While not wholly compelling, this telling of "Camelot" has some new tricks you might enjoy.