Benoît A. Racine (benoit-3) I've watched this four-hour TV epic on DVD with many reservations, which mostly turned out to be true. I've stopped counting the historical inaccuracies long ago and am now trying simply to enjoy this mini-series as entertainment but it's still hard to do, what with a retired Roman general named Magonius who is played by a Black man (!), a "gladiator prison" called "Arkham" (!!) and a slave, played by Jonathan (Beef) Cake, who speaks better English than his master (!!!). The treachery of Anthony is particularly appalling in historical terms but is typical of a script that must have been workshopped in a weekend writers' seminar while channeling every Roman epic cliché ever shot (including some from grand opera, like the deviant Vestal virgin) and putting their incidents in a blender, with the Cate Blanchett voice-over from "The Lord of the Rings" and the medical emergencies from "All My Children" thrown in for good measure. The production values are acceptable, the film shows a lot of sex, violence, sadism and decadence but the cinematography is divided into two groups of scenes: luscious long CGI shots of the countryside or cityscapes with great emphasis on colour, time of day, composition etc. and action/crowd scenes where the camera is jittery at all times and only captures the action in grainy or telephoto close-ups (à la "Gladiator") chopped up in an editing style which makes theses scenes very forgiving of little things like missed cues, bad stunt-work and confused direction, but unfortunately robs them of all majesty, grandeur and clarity. I suppose it could have been much worse. One positive thing is that since this was made for American television, all the major story points are repeated at least six times to allow the addle-brained viewer to follow the plot between bathroom and snack breaks. The four hours fly by rather fast even if they make the viewer less informed about Roman times than if he had never seen them.

carmen_meline You guys, the movie is good. A little too good for something made by an American company. OK, bad comment here. What can I say, most of the historic dramas I've seen were not even close... And the fact that J. Cake (Tyrannus of Rome) looks yummy and acts pretty damn well helps the film A LOT... OK, so I have a soft spot for Gladiators... :-) The actors and actresses are pretty and talented, great directing and very good battle scenes. To be honest, I didn't sit around to analyze the goofiness... Almost same story as Gladiator, only the good guy doesn't die at the end and everyone kind of lives happily ever after - no news on further killings and battles. The story is good, historic facts are very well combined with the "commercial" aspect. Inspiring lines, which is a big part of the success, I give it 9 out of 10 - 5 of which are for acting... Worth seeing, really! I was hooked after seeing the 2nd part. Good thing I know my history!

penarthkate I missed the first bit and may watch the final instalment just for the masochistic amusement of seeing Roman history so utterly perverted. I am a Roman historian and have to say that anyone watching this will learn nothing of Roman history, culture, society or fashion if they wanted to. I thought the Peter O'Toole Augustus was rather awful but this is just s**t and it's perfectly clear that the producers didn't bother with historical advisers. I guess I'm pleased that some people watching this enjoyed it and it might spark their interest in learning something true about Rome, but the story's so good anyway that it didn't need someone making up history. Buena Vista presents this mini-series as the rise of Octavian / Augustus. Get them under the trades description act then...

harry3 This was a waste of time. It was not even accurate. Augustus never planned to stay in office he always planned to go back to private life and leave Rome a republic. The makers of this film should be driven out Hollywood. Augustus left Tiberius his personal estate not the empire. He never used the title Emperor. Why didn't the film makers make the film more accurate. When you watch Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor they followed History fairly well. These film makers should be taken out kicking and screaming place up against the wall and shot with paint balls. They are terrible film makers. They should of paid the studio not the studio pay them.