Spartacus: Blood And Sand Are You Not Entertained?
Like the gladiatorial games it draws from, 'Spartacus - Blood on the Sand' is a big
, dumb, fun spectacle of violence, gore and sexy naked bodies.
That's why it's such fun.
Both '300' or 'Gladiator' are often over-rated; like 'Spartacus BotS' they are also "fun" movies that weren't brain-dead yet didn't require much more than just simply sitting back and enjoying them. While I rank 'Rome' VERY highly, it was more of a period drama ala 'I, Claudius' than an action series (heck, the ONE big flaw with 'Rome' was the tendency to build up a battle then NOT show it!) and boasted a far higher budget and attempt at realism.
'Spartacus BotS' definitely has its roots in the Raimi & Tapert school of "fun", though... unlike some shows (even many excellent ones) the episodes is extremely well-paced, never feeling overlong yet a lot happens in each; each one almost feels like a mini-movie, and while we are left wanting more, there are so far none of the forced "cliffhangers" shows like 'Lost' and '24' make us suffer through over and over again.
On the casting front, I'm very glad (and not just for the obvious reasons) that Lucy Lawless was so up for this, as she really has fun with her (admittedly Attia-like) role, also proving to mainstream audiences that Xena was not just a "fluke", while John Hannah lends weight to proceedings and Viva Bianca really "gets" what this is about and provides an enormous addition to the sense of fun and enjoyment as she plays the kind of spoiled rich girl that crosses genres. Special note to Craig Parker too, who was woefully underused in 'Legend of the Seeker' (playing perhaps the most neutered villain of all-time), here obviously relishing being the "big bad" and being a right bastard we love to hate. In fact, fans of Australian and New Zealand made shows will recognize a lot of the cast, and its great to see cameos by some old RenPics favorites.
While the overuse of CGI gets annoying (it reminds my of late 90's "movie" video games like 'Wing Commander III' when ALL the sets were green screens!) I'd prefer that to NO scope or action (even 'Rome' - though for their own reasons - never went the "huge scale" path with massive Colosseum events or field battles).
Spartacus (played by Andy Whitfield with just the right mix of determination and self-pity) gets on my nerves a bit for being such a blatant idiot at times, making both typical "movie mistakes" ("let the bad guy live") and very human ones. But it is very nice, on the other hand, to have a "heroic" series/character who is still very flawed and (thankfully) far from the best fighter in the show.
'Spartacus BotS' took a while to get going, and the pilot definitely visually and stylistically feels more '300' than perhaps it should, but once we get to the training school, we're in much more solid territory.
It isn't original... those who've played the PS2 game 'Colosseum - Road to Freedom' will find a lot of similarities, as will fans of 'Gladiator' of course. But this is something to expect in a genre that is both based in history and has a fairly narrow list of (decent) fellow entries.
For what I understand to be a "startup" network's first big show, I think it succeeds wonderfully, and I am looking forward to where we will be taken next. So long as they keep things entertaining, bloody and sexy yet refrain from going so far as to be TOO gratuitous, I think it will be a big hit.
Find Spartacus: Blood And Sand Season 1 DVD Boxset at http://www.365ebay.com/spartacus-blood-and-sand-season-1-dvd-boxset_p621.html
by: Simon Plummer
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