Better than most reviews indicate

Rating: 7/10 (26 October 2016)

I typically don't add a review when there are already more than 100. But in this case I'm going to because I think this film is overrated. Oh, I'm not saying this is a great epic about the Roman Empire. It's not. I don't think it's too faithful to history, but good enough to be called historical fiction. What I do think it is, is a good adventure film. Just don't take it so seriously. What made me laugh was that in the blurb I read about it, it said it was a "cut rate" adventure film; apparently only spending $67 million in 2007 was "cut rate"; only in America.
You have a decent cast here. Colin Firth plays Aurelius, a military leader charged with the responsibility of protecting the young Romulus. He's good here, and it's nice to see Firth in a different kind of role than we usually do. Thomas Brodie-Sangster does fairly well as the young Romulus Augustulus. Ben Kingsley is decent as a druid who also protects and teaches the boy. Perhaps most interesting is Aishwarya Rai -- my favorite female Indian actress -- as a female warrior.
The plot is decent. The young Romulus has been crowned the new head of the Roman Empire, but shortly after that his mother and father are murdered and he is kidnapped. Obviously, a rescue is needed. Thereby the action.
What's wrong with this film? Well, I think for many it's the idea that any film about the Roman Empire -- even a fictional story -- is supposed to be filmed in great grandeur. This is filmed well, but not on a grand scale.
This won't end up on my DVD shelf, but it's a good film (not a great film). I'm glad I watched it. Might watch it again some day.