Historical epic from the hands of a movie mastermind

Rating: 9/10 (14 October 2014)

(85%) One of Kubrick's non-surreal historic classics which has become the cornerstone of all ancient Roman based epics. And it really is an epic at just over three hours long, but its length does suit the subject matter so it's not really a big issue. Kirk Douglas fits the role of a true hero very well, and the strong supporting cast who actually get a good majority of the screen time add a large layer of clout to the production thanks to the ability of Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Tony Curtis and Peter Ustinov just to name a few, as well as a very well written, richly constructed script. The pacing at times is a little too sluggish though for what is a pretty simple overall plot, but if there's a movie worth putting in the effort in to watch from beginning to end and really focus on, then this is it.