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Spartacus
(1960)
4.50
1

Plot/Story

7.00

Characters

6.00

Acting

4.00

Cinematography

6.00

Production Design

3.00

Sound

5.00

Execution

4.00

Emotional Impact

1.00

Overview: The rebellious Thracian Spartacus, born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. After weeks of being trained to kill for the arena, Spartacus turns on his owners and leads the other slaves in rebellion. As the rebels move from town to town, their numbers swell as escaped slaves join their ranks. Under the leadership of Spartacus, they make their way to southern Italy, where they will cross the sea and return to their homes.

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Release Date: 1960-10-13

Genres: History War Drama Adventure


4.5
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Full Review Page

Spartacus is a 90 minute story told over 184 minutes by a mixed bag of talent on scenic locations and terrible sets. Just to set the scene, we open with eight minutes of a black screen while the score plays. The score isn't particularly expressive (it's all pretty cheesy) so we just have to sit there until they decide we've waited long enough to see Kirk Douglas pretend to be a man in his thirties while looking like he's pushing mid-sixties against a terribly obvious painted background that makes the whole thing feel like a bad local community play. I haven't seen Kirk Douglas in anything else, so maybe he was off his game, but here he is devoid of charisma and wholly unbelievable. Because of the times, I can forgive things like the terrible fight choreography, and the scene where you can clearly see one of the swords wobble and bend because it is obviously not metal, but I can't forgive how much time it wastes. Beyond the 8 minutes of blank screen (which we get a second time after the intermission) there is a large "epic" battle scene where we spend almost ten minutes watching one of the armies slowly march around in until they get into position. It doesn't work to build tension, only frustration as we watch the troops march and march and march and then stand still for ten minutes. There are far too many scenes where we have to sit through Spartacus and his love interest stare at each other with no chemistry. The side characters are far more interesting. All of the politicians and Batiatus (owner of the gladiator camp Spartacus is from) are acted perfectly and have much more screen presence than any of the actual main characters. The story is fine at its core, but it's far too drawn out and I never felt any connection to Spartacus. Honestly, they only character I actually liked was Batiatus and he is probably a villain. There is no clear timeline, too many terrible performances (Jean Simmons is easily the worst. Gene Simmons could have done better), it's way too long, and it doesn't hold up. Maybe Spartacus is a product of the 60's, but in 2019 it just doesn't work.

By : Greg Mueller | Date : 4 years ago




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