ALMOST great

Rating: 9/10 (25 May 2005)

What a wonderful film! It, along with PATHS OF GLORY and DR. STRANGELOVE, are my favorite Kubrick films. However, while I could find no fault with the other two films, there is ONE flaw that prevents this movie from being truly great: it just didn't know WHEN to end. When the Romans capture the rebels and announce that they will kill Spartacus but spare the others if they turn him over, the movie SHOULD have ended just AFTER all the rebel slaves stood up and announced "they were Spartacus". This would have made this movie PERFECT. Instead, it drug on for another 20-30 minutes trying to needlessly tie up all the loose ends. It was as if Hollywood would not allow the movie to end any other way.
Just imagine the impact of ending the movie earlier followed by scenes of the thousands of impaled rebels as the closing credits rolled!!
As for the rest of the film, the acting and screen writing were superb--as good as it gets.