Cannot wait Rome: The Complete Series
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Rome: The Complete Series
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Rome: The Complete Series (DVD) A friend recommended this series, stating 'you can't stop watching'. Like the book that keeps you up all night reading, this HBO series of Julius and Augustus Caesar captures your interest.The series has shortcomings. It doesn't hold up to repeated viewing. Second, the colloquial British diction detracts from the action (if you aren't British). Third, the domestic problems of Lucius Vorenus are insipidly melodramatic and tiresome. A fourth shortcoming is the abusive Forrest Gump theme: two simple Roman soldiers (Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo) repeatedly appear at crucial moments in Roman history and unwittingly exert immense influence: (eg, 'How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Roman Republic', etc). While these two characters are very believable as portrayed, their deus ex machina appearances throughout twenty years of Roman history simply are not believable and are improvidently overdone. Such fusion of zany black humor with serious history may impart charm, but the humor is so overdone that it contaminates by dramatic osmosis other scenes that demand a serious tone. (Imagine Saving Private Ryan peppered throughout with brief snippets of Mister Bill, or recall Jar Jar Binks in George Lucas's Star Wars prequels.)On the plus side is the graphic portrayal of pre-Christian pagan values: these are hard people without sentiment for whom sudden death and chronic mayhem are daily occurrences taken in stride. Whether ancient Romans really were this scorpion-like and amoral is problematic, of course, but it's refreshing to see a genuine attempt to depict an ancient culture *without* modern values.The casting, overall, is superb. The characters are lifelike depictions consonant with Plutarch's Lives, Shakespeare's plays, and the historical record generally. Although Julius Caesar obviously is whitewashed into near-sainthood, you nevertheless can imagine you really are encountering the great man's spirit through the inspired acting of Ciaran Hinds. David Bamber as Cicero and James Purefoy as Mark Antony are doubly superb.Again, while I don't feel it holds up to repeated viewing, this series is pretty amazing nonetheless. If all films were of this caliber, it would be a very different world. |
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| Amazon Sales Rank: #5230 in DVDBrand: HBO Home VideoReleased on: 2009-11-17Rating: NR (Not Rated)Aspect ratio: 1.78:1Number of discs: 11Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, Dubbed, NTSCOriginal language: EnglishSubtitled in: English, French, SpanishDimensions: 1.50 pounds Running time: 1229 minutesFeaturesCondition: NewFormat: DVDBox set; Color; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; Dubbed; NTSCEditorial ReviewsAmazon.comFamily dysfunction. Treachery. Betrayal. Coarse profanity. Brutal violence. Graphic (and sometimes brutal) sex. No, it's not The Sopranos, it's Rome, HBO's madly ambitious series that transfixed viewers with its lavishly mounted spectacle and human dramas of the historical figures and fictional characters. Set in 52 B.C., Rome charts the dramatic shifts in the balance of power between former friends Pompey Magnus (Kenneth Cranham), leader of the Senate, and Julius Caesar (Ciaran Hinds), whose imminent return after eight years to Rome after conquering the Gauls, has the ruling class up in arms. At the heart of Rome is the odd couple friendship between two soldiers who fortuitously become heroes of the people. Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) is married, honorable, and steadfast. Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson) is an amoral rogue whose philosophy is best summed up, 'I kill my enemies, take their gold, and enjoy their women.' Among Rome's most compelling subplots is Lucius's strained relationship with his wife, Niobe (Indira Varma), who is surprised to see her husband alive (but not as surprised as he is to find her upon his homecoming with a newborn baby in her arms!). Any viewer befuddlement over Rome's intrigues and machinations, and determining who is hero and who is foe, disappears the minute Golden Globe-nominee Polly Walker appears as Atia, Caesar's formidable niece and a villainess for the ages. In the first episode alone, she offers her already married daughter as a bride to the recently widowed Pompey, and the viewer eagerly awaits to see what (or who) she'll do next.Season 2 begins in the wake of Julius Caesar's assassination, and charts the power struggle to fill his sandals between 'vulgar beast' Mark Antony (James Purefoy) and 'clever boy' Octavian (Simon Woods), who is surprisingly named Caesar's sole heir. The series' most compelling relationship is between fellow soldiers and unlikely friends, the honorable Lucius Vorenus and Titus 'Violence is the only trade I know' Pullo, who somewhat reverse roles when Vorenus is overcome with grief in the wake of his wife's suicide. Season 2 considerably ups the ante in the rivalry between Atia, who is Antony's mistress, and Servilia (Lindsay Duncan) with attempted poisonings and sickening torture. Another gripping subplot is Vorenus's estrangement from his children, who, at the climax of the season opener are presumed slaughtered, but whose true fate may be even more devastating to the father who cursed them. | |
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