Possibly Kubrick's greatest epic

Rating: Null/10 (27 November 2019)

Stanley Kubrick was a director of vast talent. And by vast I mean that his movies are really not much alike. Sure, he liked to stick to certain themes, like war, madness and ego, but his genres varied wildly. 2001: A Space Opera is a scifi horror thriller. The Killing is a mobster heist film. Barry Lyndon is a period piece.
And in Spartacus he dabbled with the genre of epic historical drama, akin to Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments. The movie is about Spartacus, a real historical figure, who among others led a slave uprising, known in history as the Third Servile War, against the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC, just before the rise of Julius Caesar.
And the movie certainly feels like an epic. It's over three hours long, takes place in ancient times, deals with fates of nations and is about a singular figure defining the shape of their time.
Yet it moves with effortless grace. It's over three hours long, but it sure doesn't feel like it. The interlude helps, giving a natural place to pause the film and visit the fridge, or what will you. But it's also in the storytelling. Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) goes through many phases in his lifetime and these help break up the story into segments. The acting is also phenomenal, as are the sets and the cinematography in general. Rarely has Ancient Rome looked more alive, grandeur and magnificent.
If I had to nitpick, I'd say the ending is a bit of a downer. It's historically accurate, certainly, but that only makes it worse.
Still, what we have here is a gem of a movie. Vast in scope with a sense of scope. Definitely worth a watch if historical epics hold a place in your heart.