Five Torches (Out of Five)
Spartacus: Blood and Sand, the much-hyped new show from Starz, is finally premiering this Friday, January 22nd at 10 PM. At long last, a chance to see if the product lives up to its claim of pushing the boundaries of violence and nudity you’ve seen on television.
So does it? In two words, hell yeah.
Even if you’ve seen the mega-violent 300, which Spartacus unabashedly takes a lot of its visual aesthetic from, don’t think you’re prepared — the similarities end once you cross the look and get into the content. Both have that “living graphic novel” feel, as much of the show is shot with actors against a green screen, allowing the ancient world to come to life behind them.
But while 300 was strictly a testosterone-fueled fightfest, Spartacus actually gives its characters a lot to say and feel … and eviscerate.
In fact, if I had to compare it to anything, it’s much closer to the HBO/BBC series Rome. One of the strengths of Rome was the way it took iconic historical figures like Caesar and Mark Antony and made them juicy characters in what was essentially an ancient soap opera.
The character of Spartacus, played by excellent newcomer Andy Whitfield, is a ruthless, ass-kicking gladiator, but not by choice. All he wants is to be reunited with his wife, Sura, who was abducted by Roman soldiers. He has actual character, depth, and purpose, unlike the ab-flexing simpleton Leonidas of 300.
Fortunately for us action fans, though, he can put his emotions to bed and go nuts on anyone who stands in his way. The action in this series is outstanding, following the 300 mold of lots of slow-mo and camera glides, creating an almost balletic elegance to the brutality, and boasts one of the more interesting visual tricks I’ve seen recently: fighters will be engaged in battle and one will get a great shot in, and then all the action is freeze-framed except for the flying CG blood. It’s hardcore.
In fact, the only show on television that even comes close to the action of Spartacus is Legend of the Seeker, and by no coincidence they’re by the same production team of Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi, though beyond that fact the shows couldn’t be more different.
Tapert and Raimi also created another ground-breaking show, Xena: Warrior Princess, and as we’ve all heard by now, Xena star Lucy Lawless makes her grand return to television in the role of Lucretia, the cunning wife of the proprietor of a gladiator school. (See our interview here.)
Lawless looks terrific, and while some may be disappointed she’s playing a cerebral character in an action series, Lucretia is a magnetic and fascinating woman, manipulative and quite ruthless, much in the vein of Polly Walker’s character Atia in Rome. She steals every scene she’s in, not a simple task when you’re occasionally playing scenes with actors who are completely naked! (And yes, Lawless gets naked, as well.)
While the story is great, the acting top notch, and the fight scenes superb, perhaps the greatest victory of the show is its creation of a cohesive and complete world. Though the settings aren’t meant to look photo-realistic (and in fact sometimes seem to go out of their way to look like a comic book), it all works in the way its magnificently strung together. It just looks fabulous.
Major kudos to Starz (in their first venture into original programming) for having the guts to get behind a show that many would consider risky. Their gamble paid off — Spartacus: Blood and Sand is excellent television.
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Woo hoo!
Sounds great. Can’t wait. Must lower expectations before viewing Spartacus because at the moment they are sky high!
Loved Atia on Rome. Polly Walker was great. I had hoped that Lucy Lawless’ Lucretia was a similar character to Atia. Great to hear that is the case.
I’m really excited about this. It’s right up my alley. I loved the 300 and Rome, owning a box set of the latter. I hope this does well. Oh guy, by the way, I think Starz had a show called Crash, which would have been their first venture into original programming!
Ah, I stand corrected.
And yeah, if you liked 300 and Rome, you will LOVE this show, which is basicaly a combination of the best parts of those two. The only downside is no Polly Walker or Lindsay Duncan, but Lucy Lawless is fantastic!
You can get your hit of Lindsay Duncan in the Doctor Who special “Waters of Mars”. It would be enjoyable viewing even for a non-Who fan.
And Polly Walker will be showing up in Caprica in what sounds like an interesting role (a nun in an order that worships “one” god).
I knew I had seen her in Doctor Who recently, I was watching Rome on DVD and couldnt place her.
I’m going to wait with Spartacus to see if the whole series is any good, thanks to HMV’s massive over ordering its usually on cheap by the end of the year.
I’m just hoping its not an indoor version of Rome.
It’s DEFINITELY its own entity. The biggest similarities are the costumes and the backstabbing, intrigue, political wars, etc. But while Rome went for the realistic angle, Spartacus really owns being a moving comic book. They each have their own styles, but chances are if you like one you’ll like the other.
I have to admit, I finally gave in and ordered Starz from my satellite provider. I just couldn’t stand the thought of waiting for dvd to see this show which is what I’ve had to do with True Blood.
Now I can’t wait until Friday night!
Pathetic cartoon of a show. Every time someone gets stabbed with a sword gallons on cgi blood fly through the air. To call this show like “Rome’ should be heresy. It’s “300″, if that idiot Stephen Sommers was making it. It’s so juvenile in it’s dialogue with “fuck” every other word. I don’t mind the cussing, but it’s just lazy as hell. I was so looking forward to this, massive disappointment.
Well thats one bad review, it took me a while to get into Rome as it was so brutal but because it felt necessary I managed to get used to it as part of the story (same with The Wire).
Moving comic book sounds like something new (I’ve never seen 300) but whether I will enjoy the violence being styalised is another thing.
I really hated 300, partly for the atrocious “plot” and partly for the stylized violence and gore of it, so if Spartacus takes influence from the latter, I may avoid it for now, and wait and see if anyone I know owns it for me to borrow down the road.
I’m definitely with you on “300″ - biggest disappointment in a long time, considering how cool it looked in previews. Spartacus is a different creative beast entirely, in that there’s an actual story and characters you care about.
That having been said, if stylized violence is a real deal-breaker for you, then you might not like the show, which fetishizes blood and killing pretty much on the same level as 300.