MovieChat Forums > Spartacus (1960) Discussion > Hard to watch after Spartacus the series

Hard to watch after Spartacus the series


I had never seen this before, and I recently watched the whole new Spartacus series. Maybe I should have done it the other way around, because after getting used the imagery and pacing of the show, this just felt really slow and "tame" in comparison. I could only watch it for about 1 hour, then I had to stop. Perhaps I will continue one day, but I don't know.

Maybe I am just too spoiled by the spectacular fights and tons of blood in the show :)

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Maybe you have attention deficit problems.

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[deleted]

Galino vs Crixus
Good one.

Timmie, if you don't bring that rocketship back this instant, you'll get the spanking of your life!

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That is not a "problem." It's a neurodiverse condition which is just part of the wide range of human neurology, and it should be accepted and accommodated instead of stigmatized.

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I don't find it very strange at all, many older movies, especially epic movies such as this one is very different from todays, the pacing is generally much slower and obviously effects and violence is very different aswell. The acting in older movies is often very diffent from todays aswell, I do think it has great charm though, and I love both new and old movies (although I dislike many of the trends in more modern films, too much fast-paced cutting, too much reliance on CGI etc., not to mention the dreadful blue/orange-colour schemes that show up in too many movies these past few years).

I do think you should give the movie another chance though ,just don't view it as an action movie, take your time and just sit back and try to enjoy it for what it is, I'm watching it today while having a fever and just lying back in my couch, movies like this are perfect for these kinds of days.


Also, I have ADD (Attention deficit disorder), which many seem to attribute to people who like faster paced movies, I think it's mostly just about what your'e used to watching, and how you watch the movies.

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I think people who haven't seen a film older than 20 years old have a problem with older films as they're only used to that fast paced cutting of newer films.




Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel

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This one was much better than the show. The TV show is just a glorified blood fest with an abundance of nudity. They were more focused on nudity and slow-mo action than the actual story.

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Agreed 100%.

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Spoartacus the STARZ series was very phony. It showed people fighting as if nothing had happened after a bucket of blood just poured out of their mouth. Its main focus was on homosexuality and nudity. It can't hold a candle to Spartacus the movie.

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Maybe you just watch the first half of the first season, and yeah, it was very phony. But for me, I think it has one of the best plot of all TV series, compared even to, the Breaking Bad, imo, no offense.
Homosexuality? Nudity? It never aroused me. It was barbaric and inhumane, yes, but the storytelling and plotting is just tops the feeling you get from the brute sex. With such low budget the series had, it really is breathtaking, making me wanting to watch more and more of it. It ends, though, but it's just something any TV series will have a tough road to follow. Violence level is 10/10, sexuality level is understandable because it's not cheap, it has a reason, and depiction.
Both Spartacus are good, especially if you order a takeout and put 'Spartacus' name as the order-er..

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No, the whole series was like that, especially the final season. It's soft core porn with some bloody violence. Nothing else. The series is the epitome of trite.

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Nothing else. The series is the epitome of trite.


Spoken like a guy who barely watched the show. Yeah, it was "trite" all right which is why it was one of the few shows to incorporate its homosexual characters and make them (and their relationships) just as important as the heterosexual ones.

This the usual dismissal I hear from people who didn't really understand the show, claiming it to be nothing more than "soft core porn with some bloody violence". Yes, it did feature those aspects on the surface. Spartacus was a show about how damaging slavery is to humanity and how it affected all of its citizens in Ancient Rome. It also showed power struggles between the poor slaves being forced into gladiator matches for entertainment and the rich Romans. The sex and nudity served a purpose as well; the characters would use their bodies for either love, deception or debauchery as each sex scene demonstrated different emotions.

Yes, the first few episodes were a bit mediocre (due to the Starz Network wanting a more "300"-esque story), but form the mid-point of Blood & Sand onwards, Spartacus became a truly great show with memorable characters, profane dialogue, exciting action and compelling drama to make it one of the best action dramas of recent years.

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I fast-forwarded through the first six minutes of the show, stopping to watch a few moments. There is no point in even comparing this to the movie. I don't think it has much to do with film-making style. With a nude sex scene six minutes into the show, and an extended violent fight scene in the beginning, there's obviously a different target audience.

Timmie, if you don't bring that rocketship back this instant, you'll get the spanking of your life!

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You watched only six minutes and formed an opinion of a entire three and half season show? Wow.

Did you bother to read the rest of my post at all? Yes, the pilot episode (which was due in part to the network and creator having creative differences) is weak, but by the midway point of Season 1, Spartacus becomes a truly great show. Just because it features explicit sex and violence does not make it bad; they're actually serving a purpose to the story and giving it a unique presentation. The sex and nudity play a role in how human bodies are used or abused in the name of love, debauchery or treachery. The show is meant to resemble a graphic novel, so the comic-style fighting fits and makes it's visuals standout. Wouldn't it be boring if every film or TV show set in Ancient Rome featured guys in togas waxing Shakespearean soliloquies?

It's a different interpretation on a historical legend and worth watching because there's an actual great story under the surface.

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I didn't say it wasn't a great show. I said it was for a very different audience. Six minutes was very much enough to know it wasn't a show for me. I'm glad you like it.

Timmie, if you don't bring that rocketship back this instant, you'll get the spanking of your life!

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I wouldn't call it a different audience. I've come across people of all ages who enjoy the show; it's not just teens and young adults. I was in my late twenties myself when the show premiered. I grew to like the show for the characters and story; the nudity and violence were just a bonus.

The explicit content was required for a show of this scale. Slaves were treated with disrespect and the Romans engaged in debauchery and violent acts, so they needed to demonstrate how things were back then.

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wow, what a sad comment; some trashy tv series has destroyed your ability to watch this classic film? I guess this is a sign of the times; an eroding of taste and appreciation of art, caused by fast paced, flashy junk of today. Maybe you are just young, and don't know any better. I don't mean to insult anybody, but this really is a sad state of affairs..

"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics...'

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I like the Starz series.....at the same time I took it as an education. Thought it video came hits pay TV series. And of course since I am here the subject theme was good. Would be interested to know how old the OP is.

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go to hell with your art crap

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I like the TV series far more than I liked the movie.

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I'm almost through with the TV show and whilst I have found it moderately enjoyable (the over the top focus on gore and sex continues to detract from the show's quality)

It pales in comparison to the spectacle of the film and the charisma of its actors... I saw it on the big screen, with my dad and about 3 other people there, even so we cheered louder than a packed hall watching Terminator Salvation in the next screen

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The TV series is a mere commodity meticulously designed to be consumed by the target consumer audience for the assigned specific market period. Its core components of nudity, sexual arousal/controversy, graphic and gratuitous violence, exceedingly attractive casting, wealth and opulence, high reliance on technological and computer aided cinematography (at the expense of human skill), and only faint smattering of historical allusion were determined to be the marketable features sought by target audience. It was balance sheet project that was assigned to Starz from parent company Starz, LLC and it was a financial success, and little more. I'll guarantee you, 10 years from now any of these people texting "OMG, I loved Spartacus on Starz, LOL" won't be able to remember having thought that for lack of all the other shiny things they watched since. Its sex and slo/mo blood spray will pale to the computer tricks coming up next year. It will wilt; it will age badly...and it will...just get forgotten.

Spartacus the Kubrick film is art. In 50 years it will still be loved and remain unchanged, looking just as it looks now, and did 50 years ago.


Beer--now there's a temporary solution ~ Homer Simpson

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Since you took the time to go into such elaborate detail about why you think Spartacus the series was so bad "rather just throwing out juvenile insults" i'll do you the respect.

"high reliance on technology at the expense of human skill."

At that i have to ask, how far into the series did you get? the first half of season one was only redeemable by the quality of acting and the character development. the blood effects were so bad they were cringe worthy. the first episode had snow effects that made b-movies seem like
YET. Once John Hanna stepped on screen and brought to life the infamous "Batiatus," there is no way you can tell me the acting was bad.

yes the show did have a learning curve, but if you were patient with it, you would realized that it deserves to be praised. during the first season you can sense the corruption, the needless violence and all the other traits that people condemn these day. But as the story goes on you CAN see the difference. Yes, sex was pushed a little too far sometimes, but it was a great way to show the effect it had on romans at the time. "which you can see for yourself if you ever open an ancient Rome history book."

was the series over the top? definitely. but don't just dismiss it because you felt like a prude while watching it.
give the effects a chance, give the actors a chance, and most importantly give the story a chance. If you do that you'll fall in love with the characters and find yourself siding with both protagonist and antagonist more than you think.

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None of my business perhaps since I have not seen the series (I have no dog in this "best/worst" race). However, my idea of giving a film, TV program, play "a chance" means -- watching it.

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As paraphrased from someone wiser on this board:
you don't have to eat all 16 pieces of a rancid pizza to prove to yourself that the whole pizza is bad.

Beer--now there's a temporary solution ~ Homer Simpson

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Reaper M,
Fair reply. I did not follow through with the series because my gag reflex overcame me. Stick-to-it-iveness (somewhere in the 3rd season) failed me, and I subsequently failed to "fall in love" with any of the characters. Perhaps the final straw was watching John Hannah's sex face while he received fellatio while in soliloquy. Not my thing. Even my gay friends who used to rave and salivate several years back all yawn about it now...old hat, they say, on to the next thing. Commodity, that's Starz' objective, little more. So, without knowing the level of post-graduate western civ. studies a person has, do not mistake my understanding of well-documented Roman depravity. Nor does that mean I need Steven DeKnight to show me weak soft porn in order to tell the story of Spartacus. However, Starz wanted the revenue, so they did.

yes the show did have a learning curve, but if you were patient with it, you would realized that it deserves to be praised
Indeed, you are right about this...but then, so did Treme, M*A*S*H, Breaking Bad and The Wire, none of which had to stoop to such tawdry levels in order to draw larger audiences.

give the effects a chance, give the actors a chance, and most importantly give the story a chance.
No, Yes, and Yes. I accept this challenge, CGI, excepting. I believe I could begin to adopt your opinions more easily without distractions inherent in the too-articulate image manipulation with each glistening drop of blood, and all those penises, god, who can concentrate on the character development with all that going on. I stand by my original post.
You said something about a snowfall, there's this fragmented quote:
the first episode had snow effects that made b-movies seem like
YET.
I recall the snowy segues used in the series, but they're just a CGI program. I'm too used to the great directors of photography of immortality to care, yet. There's Philippe Rousselot, Vittorio Storaro, or the great Freddie Young; these men divined cameras like they were a body part (like Miles Davis with a trumpet), not some software simulation that almost imitates life. You may say that's only my opinion, but my opinion is right in that the camera doesn't require the prevaricating nature of the computer-generated replacement of film.
don't just dismiss it because you felt like a prude while watching it.
Low blow. Just when you impressed me with a legitimate opposing, thoughtful and original opinion, you bunt. Certainly, you know nothing of my feelings. Be better than that.

Here's my challenge: watch Kubrick's Spartacus. You may even hate it, but the second time you watch it, many years from now, you may not.



Beer--now there's a temporary solution ~ Homer Simpson

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IDK, I think the series will stand on its own. A lot of breakout performances from some up and coming actors can be found in it e.g. Manu Bennett, Liam McKintyre among others. I was initially off put by the pacing and blood/gore of this as I was looking for a replacement for the also very good HBO series Rome. I stuck with it because I love this version of Spartacus. The live action battle scenes with a literal "cast of thousands" are hard to beat by any CGI. However the STARZ series eventually grew on me.

You may have a point about shiny new "toys" getting in the way of remembering this but that is the way of things in this day and age. There is so much content spread across so many mediums (pay TV, web TV, Movies, Network television) that to be truly memorable to a large audience requires a great deal of greatness. I think it's a good thing.

More to the point though, it's unfair to choose between these two very different and very good versions of the story. However, that's not the game we're playing here. So since I've got a gun pointed at my head, I'll have to give my vote to this version. The "I am Spartacus" scene stands as one of the most stirring ever filmed.

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I just don't get how people can be so critical of sex and blood in the series and ignore all the acting and storylines. I do feel like people are so prudish about these things. It's like 2 sex scenes per episode and people are like "all they do is have sex". You do realize people had sex back then just like they do now right? And did you think no one ever bled in the arena or in battle? Good grief.

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It's like 2 sex scenes per episode and people are like "all they do is have sex"

Good Grief! 
Youth!

Timmie, if you don't bring that rocketship back this instant, you'll get the spanking of your life!

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I don't consider myself a prude, I love Game of Thrones for instance, but I feel like a lot of shows today put in a ton of sex just for the sake of putting in a ton of sex, just because it sells. Sex is fine, lots of sex is fine if it's justified, but there is a point where it's just gratuitous and out of place. I don't think it's necessary in a show about Spartacus.

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I prefer the original movie over the TV/television series (too much sex and violence IMO).
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Ant @ The Ant Farm (http://antfarm.ma.cx) and Ant's Quality Foraged Links (http://aqfl.net).

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