DO YOU REALIZE HOW LONG IT TAKES TO DIE ON A CROSS?

Rating: 7/10 (18 April 2020)

DO YOU REALIZE HOW LONG IT TAKES TO DIE ON A CROSS?
PROS:The film depicts perfectly the brutal consequences of the slavery and the corruption of Roman senators. Kirk Douglas portrays Spartacus, a man that struggles to fight slavery and even die for freedom. He is a noble human who wants to inspire the other slaves with his spirit. In addition, Lawrence Olivier and Charles Laughton play wonderfully their roles as Roman senators Crassus and Gracchus who want to satisfy their own benefits but it's the perfomance of Ustinof as Batiatus that steals the show as the slimy slave trader. The fight between Spartacus and Draba is impressive and the conflicts in the senation are really interesting. The camera interchanges between Spartacus and Crassus before the battle are magnificent, the intsrumental music score is memorable and the settings are spectacular.
CONS:The vision of Stanley Kubrick is not evident here. Spartacus is presented as a pure hero without flaws (it's known that Kubrick and Douglas argued over the portrayal of the character). The fact that he never strays from his moral virtues makes him kind of an one-dimensional character. As a result the rivarly between Olivier and Laughton's characters is more interesting to watch. Moreover, the ''oysters and snails'' scene is out of place and awkward (is something missing?).