Spartacus - Blood & Sand

[catsclaw227]

I just watched this DVR'd from Starz Network last night.

I really liked it. Extremely violent, lots of blood and sex and lust, but done in style like 300 or Sin City.

Some of the blood splashing was pretty gratuitous, but it made me laugh (in a good way) while I was watching it.

The acting is good and there are some actors that I recognize -- most obviously, Lucretia's character played by Xena Warrior Princess.

Did anyone else get a chance to see this?

 

[Mark]

I watched some of it. It has some fun stuff in it. It's not "Rome" and it's not Xena's version of the Roman empire (later in the series) but somwhere in between with an obvious intention of utilizing the effects it has coopted from other recent violent movies. Production values are, overall, fairly high. The scripts are written toward someone's idea of intrigue and otherwise rather thin. As you say, they tossed a little money toward casting, too, which helps because a good actor can often sell a poorly written line. It's gritty and not to be taken too seriously but more watchable than the dramatizations that often get grafted onto modern documentaries. It's currently available for free viewing through Netflix, so worth putting on in the background while you paint some minis or whatnot.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

As they've made it clear that they have no interest in treating a historical person historically, I have no interest in it. (Won't watch 300 either, based on a comic book rather than history. Phah!)

 

[Wycen]

I saw banner ads for it on one of these websites, but didn't click it was going to be showing on cable. I suspose I'll try to catch it, except you said it was on Starz? Since when did they try to show new stuff? Must be another reason it didn't catch my attention.

 

[Mark]

We know very little of Spartacus other than he was probably Thracian and possibly a Roman Auxiliary soldier who for some reason or other came to be at a gladitorial school and participated in an uprising out of which he emerged as one of a number of leaders, assured the most successful of them, and was later either among the dead or escaped after the defeat of the uprising. If there is a historical beef to be had with the series it might be with the architecture, IMO, particularly regarding the size of the arena.

 

[Mark]

I saw banner ads for it on one of these websites, but didn't click it was going to be showing on cable. I suspose I'll try to catch it, except you said it was on Starz? Since when did they try to show new stuff? Must be another reason it didn't catch my attention.

I wonder if it was shown in the UK or elsewhere prior to coming here?

 

[Mistwell]

The acting is good

I am trying to find a way to disagree with you without being rude about it, while still getting across just how much I disagree with you.

I am failing at that task. So, I guess I just can say that I thought the most of the acting (except for Lawless and Hannah) was extraordinarily poor. As it well below most soap opera acting. Some of it is truly horrid, particularly with some of the bit parts, and sometimes sounds like the actors are literally reading their lines.

The difference between this and, say, the acting in the "Rome" series, is so stark that I am at a complete failure to comprehend how I saw the same show as someone who says the acting was "good" overall.

 

[catsclaw227]

So, I guess I just can say that I thought the most of the acting (except for Lawless and Hannah) was extraordinarily poor. As it well below most soap opera acting. Some of it is truly horrid, particularly with some of the bit parts, and sometimes sounds like the actors are literally reading their lines.

The difference between this and, say, the acting in the "Rome" series, is so stark that I am at a complete failure to comprehend how I saw the same show as someone who says the acting was "good" overall.

While I agree that Rome was superior (as HBO has VASTLY more experience with hard, original programming), I disagree that it was extraordinarily poor. The acting was of a style that suited the style of the presentation. It was supposed to be pulpy, soapy and existed to help drive the cinematics and the story.

I am also pretty sure that they aren't trying to redo a Rome, stylewise. The budget wasn't anywhere close to Rome's.

Newsarama.com : Starz's "Spartacus" Mixes Blood, Sand, and CGI

“We were both huge fans of “Rome” and we thought it was a staggeringly brilliant piece of work, but much like the Roman Empire it collapsed under its own weight,” DeKnight explains. “It was incredibly expensive. I’ve read a lot of stuff online that unfavorably compares us to “Rome” but there is no comparison. Our budget isn’t anywhere close. It’s the same with “300,” which if you crunched the numbers is twice our budget for a two-hour movie and we have 13 hours. We don’t have the budget to look like that or be as sumptuous as “Rome” and shoot in actual locations in Italy, which is a plus and minus. It forces us to be more inventive. I think people would actually be shocked at what this show actually costs compared to what it looks like.”

 

[Steel_Wind]

It wasn't great and it wasn't bad. Given the dearth of things to watch these days, I'll probably watch it again.

The 300ish blood was just a wee over the top, mind you.

 

[Mark]

While I agree that Rome was superior (as HBO has VASTLY more experience with hard, original programming), I disagree that it was extraordinarily poor. The acting was of a style that suited the style of the presentation. It was supposed to be pulpy, soapy and existed to help drive the cinematics and the story.

It's not an acting problem, it's a directorial problem. Looks to me like Hannah and Lawless are doing what they do and the director is giving them free rein to do it. But it also appears that the director has chosen a style for the rest of the actors that doesn't mesh with those two leads. It also appears that there are a few actors who aren't being given the time, enough takes, to say the one or two lines they might have in the same overall style the director has chosen for everyone (except Hannah and Lawless). That sort of high dramatic style (that soaps do so poorly because they don't have a content that is actually suited to it) can work for material like this but it has to be one hundred percent across the board or it looks like some are over-acting and others are not acting and others still are off on their own style. Again, that a directorial problem.