Four and a Half Torches (Out of Five)
Warning: This review contains spoilers for the “Red Serpent” (premiere) episode of Spartacus: Blood and Sand.
I have been waiting all my life to see a show like this!
The much-hyped new show from Starz, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, has been making waves for its claims to be boundary-pushing when it comes to nudity and violence, and be a show unlike any other you’ve seen on television.
And guess what? A true rarity in the world of advertising: it’s all true.
From the team that brought you Xena: Warrior Princess, and is currently bringing you Legend of the Seeker, Spartacus feels like a mish-mash of Xena, 300, Gladiator, and Rome, taking some of the best parts of those shows while at the same time forging something entirely new.
The first episode is your classic origin/set-up pilot: we meet Spartacus as a brave, young Thracian soldier, reluctantly obeying the commands of the Roman centurion, Glaber (Craig Parker, who is no stranger to genre fans: His roles include Bellerophon on Xena, Haldir in Lord of the Rings, and currently Darken Rahl on Legend of the Seeker.)
The Thracians are only working with Romans to help defeat a common enemy, but it turns out Glaber really only wants to use the Thracians as muscle to fight off another enemy contingent of Greeks. When the plan becomes obvious, Spartacus (who is actually not named Spartacus, but we’re never told his real name) and his men give the Romans a sick beat-down, and head home to protect their villages.
Spartacus arrives home just in time to save his wife from invading marauders, and as it turns out, she’s pretty handy with a sword herself. (This is the same team that championed Xena, Gabrielle, Kahlan, and Cara, remember.) But while his wife is safe, his village is burned to the ground.
Spartacus and his wife, Sura, mourn the death of their neighbors by having crazy naked sex in the snow. The afterglow is cut short, however, when who should arrive but that nasty Glaber, whose men tear the lovers apart and knock Spatacus out with a conk on the head.
Spartacus is taken to Capua, a city in the Roman Empire, where he is forced to become a gladiator. He fights off four armed and armored gladiators with just a sword, wearing only a loincloth. But this is Spartacus, the champion of men! So hearing his wife’s voice in his head, he obliterates his would-be killers, the crowd goes wild, and a star is born.
The proprieter of a second-tier gladiator school, looking to make a name for himself, offers to buy Spartacus from the Roman senator Albinius, who agrees. And thus begins out journey…
The good:
Where do I begin? This show is like a double shot of espresso mixed with Mountain Dew after a decade of drinking decaf instant coffee and watered down herbal tea. The visual style, though reminiscent of 300, is truly its own animal. Yes, both projects use ample amounts of green screen, but Spartacus has a palette of its very own, and the freeze-frame-animated-blood moments, which are clearly meant to recall the pages of a comic book, are a visual feast.
Many film projects have sought to capture the “living graphic novel” aesthetic, Sin City and 300 being the most recent. But none have really got it in the way that Spartacus does. From the concise dialogue to the lush backgrounds, it really feels like you’re watching a comic book come to life.
Andy Whitfield has the “it” factor in spades, and there’s no doubt he’ll have zero problems carrying this show on his muscley, oiled-up shoulders. Craig Parker is a sneering villain, which seems to be his specialty. (Even as the good-guy elf Haldir, he had a certain bristly coldness.) And Lucy Lawless, who was unfortunately allocated to a cameo in the first ep, is fantastic as the enigmatic Lucretia.
Now, if it’s so good, why does the show not rate the full five stars? As it happens, I’ve also seen later episodes, which are even better than the first. And if a show’s awesomeness is being judged only against its own awesomeness, you know you’re on solid ground.
The bad:
The first episode of a show can be tricky, as there’s a lot to establish, and although I really loved every minute of it, it did feel like they were trying very hard to show us that “this pushes all boundaries!” Believe it or not, it was mostly the swearing that got me, which is odd, because I love swearing. I love it. But after the 97th f-word within the first ten minutes, I thought, “Okay, I get it.”
Some expository scenes dragged a little, particularly when Glaber is visited by his wife in the Roman army camp. She sneaks in, kisses him, and gigglingly asks “What if I’d been an assassin?”
Which made me think, “Then I’d be a lot more invested in this scene.” But I suppose a show does, after all, require some plot.
Finally, there was not NEARLY enough Lucy Lawless for my taste. But that changes in the second episode.
Final thoughts:
This show kicks serious ass. We needed something like this. And thanks to Rob Tapert, Sam Raimi, and the powers that be, we finally got it!
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I’ve only read the first line for now (beware “spoilers”), but reading “I have been waiting all my life to see a show like this!” is a relief after reading some of the more mainstream reviews:
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/43728
They’re not being very kind to this show or any of the people appearing on the show (on-screen and behind the scenes).
Looking forward to watching it myself. And at least the incredibly negative reviews have helped me to lower my expectations.
Any chance of more interviews with cast members? I’d like to hear from Andy Whitfield, anything else Lucy Lawless has to say (especially whether or not she’ll still be around in season 2) and especially Craig Parker who is quickly gaining geek-cred with his appearances in Xena, LOTR, LOTS and now Spartacus. And any interview with Craig Parker might be of interest to thetorchonline’s brother/sister/whatever site afterelton.com (or not depending upon the content of the interview since I’m not sure there has been a confirmation from the man himself).
Sublime! Superb! Supercalafragalisticexpialadoshus! Spartacus!
What a great first episode. I don’t know what show all those negative reviewers viewed, but the episode of Spartacus: Blood and Sand that I watched was great. The script was good, perhaps not great, but introductory episodes rarely are. The acting was good, with the slight exception of Erin Cummings as Sura. The costumes and sets were all great. The use of CGI seemed more than fine to me - I don’t know what people were expecting? Avatar-like CGI? And the fight scenes were all great. The slow-motion/freeze-frame style editing *may* get annoying over time, but at least they’re trying to establish a unique style (however much it may pay homage to “300″) instead of just doing the stock-standard fight scenes.
And of course, Lucy Lawless was a real highlight. I look forward to seeing more of her character (not intended to sound dirty).
All in all it was great. Can’t wait for the next episode.
Watched some longer clips and the outdoor shots irked me something cronic, you cant fake the outdoors on a blue screen you really really cant. They looked awful, all I could think of was a bad set off of early 1970’s Doctor Who.
On the other hand the plot I did see wanted me to watch at least the first episode so when I get the opportunity I shall.
As for the bad reviews, I think they dont like the derivite aura that it has and the script aint great either. Hit a critic with two easy open goals and they will stick em in every time, ignoring the positive.
The sets aren’t supposed to look real. They’re supposed to look like a comic book. This show kicks ass!
I get that part but its very distracting, the characters are supposed to be outside and all I can think is that if they move two feet to the left they will bump into a wall. Just kinda breaks the air of believability that TV shows build as you watch them.
The amount of blood spraying in just about every scene reminds me not of 300, but of another Raimi project: The Evil Dead. By half way through the episode, I couldn’t help but laugh every time I saw 10 more gallons of blood pour out of yet another corpse.
not my kind of show, women are merely there to show some flesh, too much blood, the pace is pretty slow and they abuse the slow motion effect. boring and gory
You should probably give it one more chance. After the first episode, my opinion was about the same as yours. After the second, I am hopeful that it will be a decent show. It has about half as much blood and slo-mo, and the acting improves significantly. It begins to feel much more like Rome.
I don’t mind some blood in a show, but the amount in the first episode is just completely ludicrous. It isn’t even vaguely realistic. There was still a bit too much blood and slo-mo in the second episode for my taste, but I found it tolerable. If they tone it down just a bit more I could be quite happy with this show.
I was unimpressed with the first show, but I’ll stick around for a couple more and give it a chance.
I haven’t ready any other critic’s reactions to the show, but I was disappointed and bored. It did play like a mash-up of “Gladiator”, “300″, and “Rome” (sorry, I really don’t see much Xena influence). And, of those, the only one I really cared for was “Gladiator”.
I was distracted and annoyed by the excessive cursing. It wasn’t that I was offended by it, but just that it kept jarring me back to modern times and taking me out of the story. Which, let’s face it, was 100% derivative.
And the blood? Sigh… I guess it is an homage to comic books but this is TV not the printed page. It looked cartoon-ish and silly at times, but other times fairly real and disgusting. I think they need to make a choice - make the violence stylized and cartoonish or make it realistic. Trying to have it both ways undercuts both choices.
I saw nothing new in this show that I haven’t seen before. Contrast that with shows like “Xena” or “Legend of the Seeker” which are so much more original.
This show felt like a mediocre cover-band that was trying too hard to be “edgy” and relevant because they can’t write their own songs.
I’m being a bit harsh - I didn’t HATE the show. I will give it another chance or two and hope it doesn’t put me to sleep.