A little unbalanced, yet respectable entertainment.

Rating: Null/10 (15 February 2008)

Like Variety said at the conclusion of their review, I really wanted this film to be better. I tried to see it in the theatre, but by the time I got around to going out and buying a ticket the film had been yanked. So I rented it in spite of hearing mixed reviews.
I liked much of what I saw, but this film was aiming to be more than what it ultimately became. Which is too bad, because even though it's a fairly solid run-in-mill actioner, it really could have been so much more.
There're elements of Indiana Jones, some Kill Bill, along with a dash of 300, all of which ultimately are riding the revived epic-genre courtesy Pete Jackson's LLLord of the Rings effort. And perhaps that's what holds back this pic from being a much better movie.
In short, what you have here is more market-tested stuff. The young audience wants to see martial-arts action, and so the studio orders the director to put it in. Which is bizarre, since the backers dumped nearly 70-million dollars into this thing to show some strange combination of eastern martial-arts action and fantasy mixed into what used to be called a "sword-and-sandal" epic.
My reaction; "Huh?" One wonders if this film made a profit, or if it will be remembered years from now like "Spartacus" or "Cleopatra" or "Ben Hur". Probably not. Which is a shame, because if the film makers had just stuck to the basic rules of making a Roman Epic this thing could've shined like Gladiator or Braveheart. But, it is regrettably aimed at younger audiences. And by this I don't mean it was missing graphic bloodshed, but it could have used a most mature approach to staging the one on one action scenes, instead of trying to present a faux Quentin Tarantino sequence to keep the film interesting for teenage boys.
The acting itself is okay. Firth as usual realizes his full potential, and Kingsley gives us a seer with true conviction. The rest of the cast do well, but no Oscars will be found.
The settings are fine, the sets are fine, the art direction is actually fairly top notch. But because the director was told to include certain elements into this film, and was told to take it in a certain direction, the film misses a finer mark.
Example; the opening action sequences do foretell what will culminate in the final climactic third act showdown. In fact it's pretty lackluster. The fall of a major urban hub that's the center of civilization is no mean feat. Yet we're only shown a small segment of what has to be a colossal confrontation between two armies; the Goths and the Garrison of Rome. The PG-violence doesn't bother me, but the scale of the battle (lack of cutaways to other parts of the city and so forth), create a knowing frown for the viewer. Wouldn't it have been nice to see the Romans in their full glory at opening of the film? Also, given the cinematography in the opening sequence, one is led to believe that this is going to be a serious epic. Costumes, sets and performances are top notch, but the catering to young boyish sensibilities truncates a more majestic quality that's never realized. As I alluded to before, instead we get derring-do replete with narrow escapes and martial arts' moves that look like they were lifted from a Hong Kong Kung-Fu B-movie.
The historical accuracy/inaccuracy doesn't bother me a great deal. This is, after all, a film about legend, but I was somewhat taken aback that there weren't more Christian references given this particular period of the Roman Empire. It wasn't too important, but a mention of Roman culture (either pagan or Christian, or some state of flux in-between) could have gone a long way to helping ground this film.
It is ultimately a film that's aimed at late-grade school to middle school aged boys, so the liberties taken with the genre aren't too surprising. But I've yet to hear praise of this film by those who specialize in catering healthy offerings to youth. I think largely because this film tries too much to cater to everyone. It's an epic; it's an action film; it's a love story; it's a "fantasy" film; it's a period piece and so on.
All in all I happen to like it, but only marginally. Like I said in the opening, I really wanted this to be a better film. Respectably shot, the teetering from one genre to the next, along with a few leaps in logic from one plot point to another (notably the lack of buildup to the opening battle scene) hampers the film.
If you have a spare evening, want to see some Roman sword play on your screen, then you might want to give this thing a chance. But, keep in mind that it is a film aimed at a younger audience, and might not satisfy your expectations for a true classic epic.