Spike tried to follow a tried and true recipe that HBO has used very successfully. Pick a mysterious and fantastic time and place. Put some young, attractive people and have them unfold a great story as they have a lot of sex and violent fighting. We've all seen how incredibly successful their "Game of Thrones" is. They also struck gold with "Rome" and other epic sagas like "The Sopranos" and "True Blood." Unfortunately, Spike didn't follow all the little details of HBO's recipe that has yielded such a delicious array of guilty pleasures.
They didn't have a strong cast. Oh, they had one classic blockbuster star, Ben Kingsley, who said his words bravely but looked like he was depressed to be there. The title actor and his queen would have been quite at home in a soap opera set in a Hollywood poolside but they were utterly out of their league. In no way could they compete with James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano or Ray Stevenson as Titus Pullo or Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse.
They didn't have enough sex. Oh they hinted at it but no really good nipple bearing with flashes of fur that all the geeks crave.
Worst of all, they didn't have the writing. There was never a mystery. At every step Tut had pretty much one choice and he followed that choice, without humor and with little joy or imagination. I'm not criticizing it for utter historical inaccuracy. That is expected and is forgivable. I'm criticizing it for being so predictable and boring. Here, King Tut was not a part of ancient Egypt but was such a painfully 21st century Generation X'er.
It wasn't a bad miniseries. It was just such an ordinary one.
They didn't have a strong cast. Oh, they had one classic blockbuster star, Ben Kingsley, who said his words bravely but looked like he was depressed to be there. The title actor and his queen would have been quite at home in a soap opera set in a Hollywood poolside but they were utterly out of their league. In no way could they compete with James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano or Ray Stevenson as Titus Pullo or Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse.
They didn't have enough sex. Oh they hinted at it but no really good nipple bearing with flashes of fur that all the geeks crave.
Worst of all, they didn't have the writing. There was never a mystery. At every step Tut had pretty much one choice and he followed that choice, without humor and with little joy or imagination. I'm not criticizing it for utter historical inaccuracy. That is expected and is forgivable. I'm criticizing it for being so predictable and boring. Here, King Tut was not a part of ancient Egypt but was such a painfully 21st century Generation X'er.
It wasn't a bad miniseries. It was just such an ordinary one.