second half is brilliant

Rating: 8/10 (17 June 2019)

"When a free man dies, he loses the pleasure of life. A slave loses his pain. Death is the only freedom a slave knows. That's why he's not afraid of it. That's why we'll win."
Spartacus is widely considered to be one of the best epic films ever made. I had my expectations set pretty high, hoping to see some awesome battle sequences, a great script, and beautiful scenery. Throughout the start of the film (a couple scenes before the intermission), I was disappointed. Sure the movie's beautiful, but it was missing the X-factor of what makes a great movie. Things just weren't clicking. A romance was desperately trying to blossom and the story just wasn't as engaging as I'd hoped.
Eventually though, all the pieces of the story start fitting together. We start to see more of Laurence Olivier, and the romance, though cheesy, is developed more. After the intermission, Spartacus turns into an entirely different movie, with brilliant lines and breathtaking shots. I've never seen a movie do a complete 180 as dramatically as this one. I absolutely love the last half of this.
Kirk Douglas basically owns this movie, but I'm not as impressed by him as I am with the supporting cast. Laurence Olivier is terrific as Crassus and Peter Ustinov gives some great comedy that isn't cheesy or dated at all. Kirk Douglas is solid, but I feel a different actor could have given a similar if not better performance (I kept thinking Charlton Heston).
The last half of the film contains so many unbelievable shots. Kubrick does his best to convey emotion to the audience, showing the happy and the sad. Showcasing this emotion makes Spartacus over three hours long, but I think every minute of the movie counts, and I wouldn't take out anything, though the beginning scenes could be shaved.
What I found most interesting is that the overall style is a mix between the trademark style of the Golden Age era and more modern filmmaking. Spartacus has obviously influenced other great movies, and it's interesting to connect later films to Spartacus.
I loved the second half of the film, but upon second viewing, I'd skip most of the first half. It's not bad, per se, just unimpressive. To truly be taken away by the beauty of Spartacus start at the intermission.