Spartacus (1960) :
Brief Review -
Stanley Kubrick's magnus opus on legend Spartacus couldn't battle out the fact that it came just after Legendary Ben Hur. Maybe Stanely Kubrick is not the man for Magnus Opus and Historical Biopics. Spartacus could have been an epic tale and a legendary motion picture considering the kind of grandeur and topic it had but the fact that Hollywood went too ahead with films like 'The Ten Commandments' and 'Ben Hur' just before Spartacus couldn't let it become so. I am a big fan of Stanley Kubrick and the kind of realistic, brutal films he has made but may be he's not the one who fits in magnum opus genre. This kind of films need different perspective and different cinematic liberty which is lacking here in Spartacus. You see the grandeur in the film but somehow it just doesn't work the way it should work, it doesn't feel big. It just passed by so quickly with lack of cinematic Liberty hence making it look so rough. I remember so many moments from Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments giving me jitters every time i watch them. Every time they look big and thrills me. Here Spartacus lacks it and it also lacks the feel of legend of Spartacus. The man should have been glorified in the film like a Hero, like a legend but he looks so ordinary in the film. The film is about 195 minutes long but more than half of the runtime doesn't focus on Spartacus, it goes on focusing more on Roman politics which was not at all needed in the biopic of Spartacus. There should have been more about Spartacus and then maybe impact would have been more powerful. The film has got positives like Acting, cinematography and technical brilliance but i would have been more happy if all this had been used to glorify the legend in heroic and enormous way. Maybe Ben Hur being too huge and legendary causes me to accept the goodness of Spartacus but what can i do if this film came just an year after Ben Hur. And i don't need to tell you about Ben Hur and it's impact. Spartacus is very good film though, i was expecting a Classic from Kubrick and it didn't happen with this film at least.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest
Brief Review -
Stanley Kubrick's magnus opus on legend Spartacus couldn't battle out the fact that it came just after Legendary Ben Hur. Maybe Stanely Kubrick is not the man for Magnus Opus and Historical Biopics. Spartacus could have been an epic tale and a legendary motion picture considering the kind of grandeur and topic it had but the fact that Hollywood went too ahead with films like 'The Ten Commandments' and 'Ben Hur' just before Spartacus couldn't let it become so. I am a big fan of Stanley Kubrick and the kind of realistic, brutal films he has made but may be he's not the one who fits in magnum opus genre. This kind of films need different perspective and different cinematic liberty which is lacking here in Spartacus. You see the grandeur in the film but somehow it just doesn't work the way it should work, it doesn't feel big. It just passed by so quickly with lack of cinematic Liberty hence making it look so rough. I remember so many moments from Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments giving me jitters every time i watch them. Every time they look big and thrills me. Here Spartacus lacks it and it also lacks the feel of legend of Spartacus. The man should have been glorified in the film like a Hero, like a legend but he looks so ordinary in the film. The film is about 195 minutes long but more than half of the runtime doesn't focus on Spartacus, it goes on focusing more on Roman politics which was not at all needed in the biopic of Spartacus. There should have been more about Spartacus and then maybe impact would have been more powerful. The film has got positives like Acting, cinematography and technical brilliance but i would have been more happy if all this had been used to glorify the legend in heroic and enormous way. Maybe Ben Hur being too huge and legendary causes me to accept the goodness of Spartacus but what can i do if this film came just an year after Ben Hur. And i don't need to tell you about Ben Hur and it's impact. Spartacus is very good film though, i was expecting a Classic from Kubrick and it didn't happen with this film at least.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest