Spartacus (2004) (TV)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Robert Dornhelm

Writers (WGA):

Howard Fast (novel)
Robert Schenkkan (teleplay)

Release Date:

18 April 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Action

Tagline:

Once a slave. Forever a legend.

Plot:

Sentenced to spend out the rest of his adult life laboring in the harsh deserts of Egypt, the Thracian...

Plot Keywords:

Slave | Gladiator | Colosseum | Beautiful Woman | Crucifixion

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

Goran Visnjic	...	Spartacus
Alan Bates	...	Antonius Agrippa
Angus Macfadyen	...	Marcus Crassus
Rhona Mitra	...	Varinia
Ian McNeice	...	Lentulus Batiatus
James Frain	...	David
Henry Simmons	...	Draba
Ross Kemp	...	Cinna
Ben Cross	...	Titus Glabrus
Paul Kynman	...	Crixus
Paul Telfer	...	Gannicus
Chris Jarman	...	Nordo
Georgina Rylance	...	Helena
Stuart Bunce	...	Cornelius Lucius
Hristo Shopov	...	Maecenus

Runtime:

174 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Brazil:14 | Netherlands:12 (TV rating) | Netherlands:16 (DVD rating) | Germany:12 | Singapore:M18

Filming Locations:

Sofia, Bulgaria

Company:

USA Network Pictures

Trivia:

Dedicated to Sir Alan Bates (Agrippa), who died of cancer shortly after filming ended.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Spartacus kills a gladiator in the arena by slitting his throat after their fight. The dagger, clearly visible in the following shot, is clean.

Quotes:

Spartacus: Live Draba - that is what life is for.

Movie Connections:

Version of Spartacus (1960)

Different from original, surprisingly good

Goran Visnjic gave a very credible performance as Spartacus. Instead of the superhero-style portrayed by Kirk Douglas (which I happened to LOVE that movie), Goran added more depth to the character ... the strengths AND the weaknesses. I also liked how the show developed his skills as a gladiator by having him do some real fighting rather than how it was done in the original.

Crassus (played by Angus MacFadyen) was likewise very three-dimensional. It was a shame that the movie was only 2 hours long (4 hours if you count the commercials). Given more time, it would have been enjoyable to see more of Crassus's political maneuvering. If that character had been born in our century, he'd be king of our country by now.

And there were surprisingly strong performances by others in bit-parts, like George Calil as Pompey, Ben Cross as Glabrus, and Henry Simmons as Draba. You can see that they did their homework and put real work into their character developments.

All in all, I give it an '8'. I'd like to give it a higher score, but I thought that the fight scenes were less than spectacular. Add a few thousand more stand-ins and maybe it would have been more believable. But I just didn't get the sense of volume that should have been there.