I can't think of a thing that I would change.

Rating: 9/10 (9 April 2000)

Every once in a while, I will watch a movie that just totally blows me out of the water. Spartacus was one of those movies. Everything about it seems perfect to me. I was not bothered by the length, as the story required a lengthy movie. After director Anthony Mann was fired, Stanley Kubrick was brought in to work as director. If he had been the original choice for director, perhaps we would see a Spartacus with the flashy long camera shots and the deep, haunting scores, and the abstract art we have become used to from Kubrick's 2001, A Clockwork Orange, and even Full Metal Jacket. Kubrick's style is much more restrained in Spartacus. The only time when Kubrick really shines through is the battle scene, where the troops of Casuss' army asssemble to make symmetric shapes. But since Spartacus is not really the kind of movie that requires that kind of work, since a ray of hope shines over the entire thing. In the hands of a lesser director (notably Cecil B. DeMille, king of the mindless epics) it might have turned into just that, a mindless epic. But Kubrick saved that from happpening. Critics of the romance between Spartacus and Varinia may be right when they say that there is no passion there. I disagree with this, though. Besides, the love scenes gave an excuse to hear the traditional score. The score (basically consisting of 3 notes being played in the same pattern but in different keys and by different instruments) is perhaps the most touching thing about the movie, and its simplicity drives what is going on on screen home. The movie's screenplay and story takes the best elements from such movies as Braveheart, Ben-Hur, and even the Ten Commandments and gives it to much better actors. Though the story may have many factual errors, it gives the actors a chance to shine in their work. The acting is top quality. Almost every legend of the silver screen had his role that made him one, the role that when one thinks of the actor, they must think of the role also. Marlon Brando had his Vito Corleone, Clark Gable had his Rhett Butler, Orson Welles had his Charles Foster Kane, even Anthony Quinn had his Zorba the Greek. Well, Kirk Douglas has his Spartacus. Although his character required little acting, and he was not oscar-worthy in it, he gave Spartacus an identity. Other acting standouts are oscar-winner Peter Ustinov as Spartacus's former owner, Laurence Olivier as the evil dictator Cassus, and though most people would disagree with me, Tony Curtis as Antoninus.
This is a 5-star movie, see it soon.