Exciting Kubrick epic

Rating: 8/10 (2 April 2006)

Epic tale of slave revolt against the Roman empire is grandly filmed by Kubrick with an all-star cast. Douglas is well cast in the title role, Simmons is beautiful as fellow slave, and Laughton is great as usual as a senator. Ustinov, however, steals the film in his Oscar-winning role as a slave trainer. Gavin is given above-the-title billing but barely has five minutes of screen time. However, the film is too long at nearly three and half hours and, like the director's Barry Lyndon, would have benefited from tighter editing. Some of the scenes in Rome specially could have been trimmed. The early scenes in the training camp are the best although the battle scene is impressive. 8/10.