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:

Factual errors: At the end Caesar proposes Crassus and Pompeius made "Co-Consuls". Consuls were *always* elected in pairs in the Roman Republic, and they were *elected*, not chosen. When Agrippa says "Never in the history of the Republic" he's cut off before he can say what we think he says, but it's not true if he were going to say that Consuls never came in pairs. They always did, even in Imperial times.

Quotes:

Spartacus: I am not a king. I am something better. A free man.

Movie Connections:

Version of Spartacus (1960)

A worthy successor to the original

The 1960 version of Spartacus remains one of the best historical epics ever made but this new film rates very well beside it. It is more historically accurate and much more faithful to the original Howard Fast novel on which both films were based.

All the actors did a good job. Goran Visnvjic was an effective Spartacus and Rhona Mitra a feisty Varinia very much in keeping with the book. Alan Bates is at his best in the role of a senator playing a behind the scenes role in trying to stop Crassus in his drive for power over the Roman state. I was least impressed by Angas Macfadyen in the role of Crassus although it's still a competent performance. I guess that Lawrence Olivier who played Crassus in the 1960 movie is a hard act to follow.

The battle scenes are competently performed but the armies look much smaller than the historical record said they were. I guess the original Spartacus had more money to spend on extras. A long standing wish of mine is for a Roman epic to get the armor right. The Roman soldier of this period wore short mail shirts and used oval shields. The segmented armor wasn't introduced until about a century later.

I couldn't fault the history. Everything seems to be done right, from the first battle when the slaves abseiled down the cliffs of Vesuvius to attack the Roman camp to the splitting up of the slave army when Crixus and Spartacus had a falling out. The gladiator scenes are just as good as the original too.

All in all, a great movie that even die-hard fans of the Kirk Douglas version should enjoy.