nossfer I remember the first time, almost 10 years ago when i was reading the same title book,from Valerio Massimo Manfredi, i was wondering, if there was going to be a film adaption, for this interesting book. Of course they had to skip a few things,as they do almost in every book-to-film adaption, but even if you watch the film, without reading the original script first, it is a complete story and you wont be disappointed. Especially for people loving this history period, i am almost sure that they will find interesting and enjoyable.Maybe, indeed, a few historical inaccuracies are here,cant say for sure, but even there are a few, i could easily overlook them.I don't know if there was already a myth including a Roman Emperor with this famous Sword, but, in my opinion, even a final twist like this, can be a pleasant surprise! As far as the cast concerns, i would say that the casting selection was a nice one, and i think that each and every one of them fulfilled my expectations.

Peter Pluymers I expected an entertaining costume movie about Romans, but after a while it looked rather like an "Asterix and Obelix" soft-action movie. The only bright spot was the appearance of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The Romans should worship her. What a divine body.The movie was of a high "Bud Spencer" level with Goths flying around in the sky, after which Mira appears gloating. Then there was Thomas Brodie-Sangster who had the same facial expression the entire film (excellent performance when you take that in mind). Kingsley starts as a nicely played counselor/teacher/philosopher (beautiful scene in the beginning of the film), but slowly evolves into an irritating magician. Him being Merlin was a complete surprise and a sign for me to start rolling my eyeballs.I didn't care whether the film is historically accurate. I was hoping for an entertaining movie, but got a faint pathetic historical epos with men in skirts.More reviews at http://opinion-as-a-moviefreak.blogspot.be/

davespix I wanted to like this movie more than I did. I'm normally a sucker for these kind of historical romantic fantasies. But I think it had several problems. Much of it might be due to the use of music. The score seemed 1) Kind of dated (could be because another reviewer said it was a shameless copy of Manon Lescaut by Puccini) but it just didn't have a contemporary feel to the mood it tried to set ... like something Williams or Silvestri would have composed. And 2) It was ubiquitous! Every time the kid picked his nose, the "hero" music would start up. It was just WAY over used. It started feeling like an old Cecil B. DeMille technicolor "over the top" epic where the color is TOO rich and the music TOO inspiring.Lefler might've done well to remember that sometimes "less is more."The plot was a little formulaic as well with it's cast of characters. The love story subplot seemed forced to me. I didn't get ANY chemistry from the two. Mira had more outfit changes than Lady Gaga at the Oscars. And the storyline could have been told with a little more mystery in it's pacing perhaps .... but that damn "hero's score" swelling to a crescendo every 90 seconds just ruined it for me.All in all, it's watchable and a fun rollick ... but it's not the epic it could have been with a few changes. Perhaps even with just a change in the music.

a666333 Usually when a movie is bad, I just let it a pass and don't say anything because others will be doing that. In this extreme case, I have to drive another nail into the coffin.Plenty of money was spent on costumes, on-location shooting and some actors whose names you will notice and an actress who will look good no matter what she is doing. That is where you can end the positives. Everything else is very low quality and in some cases, unbelievably bad. What you get is a children's fantasy comic book with stiff acting, cliché writing and nonsensical fight choreography. One keeps hoping that if they had the wisdom and integrity to shoot on site and not resort to computers that the awkwardness will end and a good stretch of the movie will begin. It never happens. Rai and Kingsley are especially misused/miscast although Rai of course looks good always. They have to milk her looks quite hard as nothing else goes well. Even the good locations are not used to their full potential.