Spartacus

Rating:
Summary: DIFFERENT, BUT VERY GOOD!
Review: When Spartacus was made, my parents were attending high school, and, naturally, I have not seen this movie until Gladiator has resurrected the myth and fashion of the good old epics. I've noticed that the battle of opinion what movie is better among film fans on Amazon can equal fierce battles in Coliseum. PLEASE STOP COMPARING THESE MOVIES, by that you're showing disrespect to all those great actors and the whole team whom we should thank for both Spartacus and Gladiator. We have to accept that these movies are DIFFERENT, as Gone with the Wind or Cleopatra would have been if made in 2000.

Spartacus is 190 min long and it is an advantage (maybe Gladiator could have avoided several awkward leaps of logics be it 30 minutes longer). True that Spartacus has a more complicated plot, but Spartacus was a real character and the story of his rebellion and its suppression is closely interwoven with intricate plotting among the senators of Rome. Treacherous games that lead to fall of Grachus and rise of Crassus kept me much more interested that Spartacus and his travails. Male leads impressed me:I'm not a fan of K Douglas (but acknowledge his masterful portrayal of boorish and uneducated, but passionate and fearless hero), I couldn't take my eyes of L Olivier (Crassus), J Gavin (young Julius Caesar) and T Curtis (Antonius). Movie off, you Pitt-ish modern boys!

Now the "minuses": I was surprised that during the whole movie only 2 personal combats and 1 big battle have been fought. And boy, sadly, we indeed can be proud of making such progress in modern skills of showing bloody spectacles with such realism! Second, than it seems they didn't know what success a good soundtrack can make, that's why the monotony of fanfares and deafening trumpets made me cringe and turn down the volume several times. Third, the number of poor old tearful gentlemen and ladies, smiling children and cheering women was a little too much and added another ton of pathos to the movie. I wonder how it still has not been crushed by it. Fourth, Crassus falling for Spartacus' woman was tribute to women viewers, wasn't it? Otherwise a completely preposterous plotline.

In short, despite all my "blasphemy" in the above paragraph, I agree the story of Spartacus and the movie is A CLASSIC and thus it will remain. "What we do in life, echoes in eternity!" some other gladiator said after 40 years and I can't disagree with him.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Gladiator
Review: One critic thought there were several Spartacus characters. Those that said they were Spartacus didn't really mean that was their name. The reason they said they were Spartacus is so the real Spartacus would not be executed. It's called loyalty, not duplicate names. Check the credits. How many played Spartacus?This film even compared to todays greats like Braveheart and Gladiator holds its own. A must have for any classic movie collector. You won't go wrong buying this DVD. The restoration is excellent, and the cast, sets, and music are incredible. In one scene we see the armies marching into postion from a hillside and the view is spectacular. The arena fight scenes are still great to watch even after seeing recent special effects in movies like Gladiatior. You feel you are there at the height of the Roman Empire. The love scenes between Spartacus and Varinia are well done. Good entertainment for all but the very young.

Rating:
Summary: Spartacus -- forget Gladiator, compare it to Braveheart
Review: The bottom line first: Forget Gladiator. Anyone who, like me, thought Braveheart and excellent, excellent film should see Spartacus, to see where Mel got half his story. Abuse of beautiful woman inspires first riot, then revolt. Unlikely sexual competition between opposing generals. Enemy general (Olivier, McGoohan) ruthless and conniving. Good guys eventually defeated (by secretly being surrounded), leader executed. Uplifting ending about eventual freedom and justice.

Anyway, Spartacus is very long, but except for the dire scenes where Kirk is wandering around the camp the night before the big battle, what would you cut? Kirk could do a little less manly staring and emoting. Trumbo could have either accepted the institution of slavery (as the Romans did), or attacked it, instead of the half-and-half way he does it. The battles could have been staged better (they had thousands of soldiers in certain long shots, but they could have filmed the actual fighting with 100 extras). But these are quibbles. Solid performances from all leads -- Tony Curtis is surprisingly good -- and sufficient big-picture dialog to keep complicated Roman politics comprehensible.

And, hats off to Kirk and Kubrick for crediting Trumbo and ending the blacklist. This was bravery on par with Spartacus himself, and is sufficient to make Spartacus a milestone.

Rating:
Summary: Another brilliant movie by stanley kubrick
Review: I remember when I was only seven years I watched that movie I didn't understand it. A few months ago I bought a DVD system and I wanted to see Spartacus in a better format on DVD so I got it as a birthday present. Now I see it's brilliance. I recommend this DVD to all the people who understand a genius movie and like thinking. This is truly a masterpiece and one of the best movies there is.

Rating:
Summary: Magnificent
Review: Why Stanley Kubrick ever disowned this movie is a mystery to me - especially when you compare it to such offerings as "Eyes Wide Shut."

Not a great deal is known of the actual Spartacus, who led a slave revolt which challenged the vast power of Rome at its height. And, predictably, 1960 Hollywood romanticized the story to its fullest extent. But it remains an awesome epic of loss, misery, defeat and yet, somehow, also of hope.

The cast is among the finest ever assembled. Kubrick's work is stunning, and even after 41 years, the battle scenes are striking.

Forget about the computer-generated "Gladiator." Buy "Spartacus" and revel in it.

Rating:
Summary: Kubricks best movie; even if he disowned it!
Review: I must first state that of all Kubricks movies, this, i.e., Spartacus (Widescreen Edition)VHS ~ Kirk Douglas is the one that enjoy the most. To imagine that he, Mr. Kubrick had the audacity to disown himself from this project, which was given him by none other, then Kirk Douglas himself (at a time when nobody knew who he was or knew his name for that matter) is beyond. As it happened to be, he did disown himself from the movie and the reason being must have meant in my humble opinion that he, Kubrick, soon realized that there was no way that he could top or equal this achievement and out of fear, cowardice and ingratitude decided to disown this grand epic of a movie. As for the acting, Kirk Douglas is magnificent, splendid and awesome in his portrayal of the gladiator turned into military commander. Laurence Olivier is also very convincing and the bath scene is mostly harmless (from a modern standpoint). The costumes and scenery were crafted in a very stylish, awe-inspiring and authentic way to show the viewer that grandeur that was the Roman Empire.

Rating:
Summary: The definitive version of a great movie
Review: Spartacus is one of the greatest films ever, directed by THE best direcor, Stanley Kubrick. This version includes lots of extras (Look above), and is quite reasonablly priced. While I don't have this particular version, I do have Spartacus on VHS. I watch it about every other week, and I still love it.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Review: The storyline, musical score, acting, and sets in this epic Roman saga are fantastic. The depiction of Roman society and values, the political intrigue of Rome itself, and the way they viewed slavery all combine to make this movie extremely insightfull.

That being said, however... their were aspects of the film that seemed less than perfect: mainly the action sequences. Speaking as your average undiscerning movie viewer, the battles seemed bland and uninspired, at least from a modern standpoint. (Although i do realize that for the time they were considered state of the art.) So if what you are looking for is an action packed blockbuster with breathtaking special effects and digitally created wonders, watch Gladiator. If you are willing to accept the dearth of good battles normally associated with epics of this kind in exchange for its other more subtle aspects then I would highly recommend this movie.

Although as a teenage male, i certainly would have enjoyed a few rousing fight scenes, i think that the plot and acting more than make up for the lack. Thus i still gave it five stars. How you would like it, though, depends on how heavily you weigh action versus plot and characters.

Rating:
Summary: Marvelous!
Review: This movie made me cry. And I'm not kidding. Spectacular war epic, romance, and docu-drama.

Rating:
Summary: Superior Gladiator film
Review: By no means a perfect film this is still vastly superior to Gladiator in every sense; Douglas, Laughton, Olivier and Ustinov all give indelible performances in roles written for rounded three dimensional characters. For those bored by this well that reflects more on your own lack of intellect than anything else. The sets, not a computer generated image in sight, are lavish and authentic without being slavish to detail. The fight scenes are well choreographed, again without effects making them obviously fake. The genuine atmosphere gives the production a soul totally absent from Gladiator. Whilst the ending is too much, Simmons holding up his son to the dying Spartacus, it does not compare to Scott's ludicrous finale. All in all a fine film.