The actor performances pique my interest, because as visually spectacular as Gladiator was and that Russell Crowe did a great number as the brooding Maximus, I never quite got got past the disbelief that these were Hollywood bigwigs playacting in a sword and sandals epic. And the less said about the buffed up Gerald Butler trying to pass himself off as King Leonidas in 300, the better. Spartacus on the other hand oozes with immersion, and its entire package – each frame of the series lovingly shot, enhanced and looking as though it’s popping out of a beautifully drawn graphic novel, the costumes, and the sets – all drew me right in over the series’ 13 hours.
Thankfully too, the story doesn’t take a back seat. Each character is believably drawn with their individual strengths, motivations and weaknesses – even the supposed ‘hero’ character in Spartacus. Andy Whitfield’s Spartacus is far from a saint and he does nasty things when he needs to, but you won’t ever for a moment not feel for his plight. Heck; the same goes for just about every one of the series’ characters. Even the supposed thugs and bullies present shades of grey. No one character is really evil, but neither is any person a saint. Each person is well, just human and reacting in exactly the same way we would if we were in their sandals 2000 years ago.
Moreover, while the series is ostensibly centered largely on its title character, none of the supporting cast are throwaways. With the exception of John Hannah whom I recognized from his turn in the three Mummy films with Brandon Fraser, and Lucy Lawless from the recently concluded Battlestar Galactica series and they both star as as ludus’ master and mistress, the rest of the cast are relative unknowns, but all turn in marvelous performances.
The series also includes many other subplots that do a great job at explaining the times and situations of the Roman empire. The class divides, the decadence, and the political play between persons of common birth but yet yearning higher office.
On the other hand; the series is not going to sit well with every viewer. When I said that there’s a lot of adult content, I really meant it! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mainstream TV series with this much gore, violence, homosexuality, both male and female nudity and foul language. And funnily, if you go with historical accounts passed down from time in memoria, you can’t fault the series for not trying to be faithful to that time period. There was a lot of foul language used (if in Latin back then), a different regard for clothing, and people in the gladiatorial arena do get killed in unkind fashion. But you’re gonna have to watch this series with a lot of tolerance for this sort of thing. I think myself already pretty saturated with these things, but even the first episode of Spartacus here made me squirm a little even. It’s that extreme.
All said and done; I enjoyed Spartacus: Blood and Sand. It’s not for everyone; certainly not for minors, and for people who have issues with bad language, nudity and more adult themes than you can shake out of a big trash bag. But if you can get past all that, there’s a deeply compelling story in this series – one that even Ling I think enjoyed.
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