Stanthony Mannbrick

Rating: 4/10 (2 August 2009)

SPARTACUS is a solidly produced historical epic of the time, but unlike EL CID, BEN HUR, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, or THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, it doesn't hold up as well under scrutiny. This may owe more to a poor script than Stanley Kubrick, who stepped in for original director Anthony Mann during the production due to a fight with Kirk Douglas. Had it been the other way around with Mann been kept on and Douglas fired, I doubt this CLEOPATRA-style grandiose-yet-awkward film would have suffered. Actually it might have been much better and more cohesive as too much feels as though the director lacked interest and most of the best scenes are more Mann-ish than Kubick-esquire.
The film starts off traditionally enough – Spartacus is raised in the slave pits and makes a seamless transition to gladiator. Somewhere along the line he manages to figure out a sense of unbreakable moral virtue and never strays from it the rest of the film, thus making his character 1-dimensional and unfortunately pretty boring. Despite all this, the film is fine up until the standout slave break-out scene where Spartacus begins his rebellion and our plot lines diverge. The film then cuts back and forth from following Spartacus's army to the political rivalry between Laurence Olivier and Charles Laughton as Roman senators looking to profit from the whole mess. It turns out that these extremely charismatic villains are much more interesting to watch than bland Kirk Douglas, who is completely overshadowed with his "subdued Heston" performance and Christ-like central character.
The film does highly benefit from many colorful supporting characters and great performances. Some highlights include: Peter Ustinov as a stressed-out slave trader, Woody Strode as a stoic gladiator who snaps, Herbert Lom as a Phoenician pirate (!), and Charles McGraw as a hateful veteran gladiator/instructor. John Ireland and Tony Curtis don't get to do much as Spartacus's right and left hand, though Curtis has a disturbing yet slightly amusing scene where Olivier (extremely well-dubbed by Anthony Hopkins for the reissue) attempts to seduce him. Jean Simmons (no, not one from "KISS") is quite restrained and bland as Douglas's love interest, though she isn't really given much to do either.
Usually epics like this are redeemed by massive battle scenes but (despite some heavy gore for the time) the big show-stopping fight is not the best of the genre, owing some to Alex North's pedestrian score and Kubrick's apparent disinterest. All throughout you'll be wondering if Kubrick really had much input on this movie at all as it contains almost none of the touches he brought to his films before or after this one. Add to that the fact that this "true story" really oversimplifies, skimps, and downright lies in its complete dearth of historical accuracy, this film may actually make you dumber having watched it. SPARTACUS is just a big disappointment all-round, despite some great performances and costuming.