Spartacus

Patrick Willems3.0

I audibly gasped when Spartacus chopped a guy’s hand off and it spurted blood because I didn’t think movies were allowed to do that back then

Josh Lewis4.0

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cinemacl🎃wn4.0

One of its taglines says, "More titanic than any story ever told!" which actually isn't very far from the truth. Notorious for being the only film in the legendary career of Stanley Kubrick for which he didn't have complete artistic control, Spartacus is breathtaking in both scope of its ambition & scale of its production and just like every other Kubrick feature is an influential example of its genre.Set during the 1st century BC, the story follows its titular character, a rebellious slave being trained at a gladiatorial school, who begins an uprising which soon spreads across the Italian Peninsula, resulting in the freedom of thousands of slaves. But when his plan to flee the country is disrupted, he decides to challenge the might of Roman Empire.Directed by Kubrick, the film has all his trademarks yet feels remarkably different & unique when compared to his earlier works. It is the first big-budget production of his career and yet the manner in which the then-young auteur handles the huge cast & epic scope is a testament to his remarkable filmmaking skills. Written by Dalton Trumbo, the screenplay isn't accurate to historical facts but does make the story more relatable with current events.The technical aspects are always gold-standard in Kubrick films & Spartacus is no exception. The set pieces are impressive, locations are aptly chosen, Cinematography makes outstanding use of camera, the panoramic shots are spectacular, colour composition is vibrant and the level of detail is exhaustive. Despite clocking over 3 hours, it kept me invested in the journey and Alex North's majestic score brings an epic feel to the narrative.Coming to the performances, the film features a star-studded ensemble in Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, John Gavin, Tony Curtis & more. Douglas gives his all in the eponymous role and delivers a fantastic performance, Olivier plays Crassus with fine elegance, Laughton as Gracchus ends up stealing every scene he's in, Gavin doesn't have much to do as Julius Caesar, Curtis is brilliant as Antoninas & Jean Simmons chips in finely as Varinia in a film dominated by men.On an overall scale, to know that the screen being filled with thousands of people doesn't have one pixel of CGI in it, to know that each one of those extras was a real person indeed and to know that Kubrick managed to churn out an epic that more than lives up to its legacy are amongst a few things that makes me admire Spartacus all the more. Grandeur in scale, highly entertaining, very engaging, and covering love, betrayal, corruption, slavery, mutiny, civilization & leadership with finesse, this historical epic comes strongly recommended.