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Kaaazingg_47
Reviews
Spartacus: Blood and Sand: The Red Serpent (2010)
what a shame...
I, like many people, was very much looking forward to this mini series..the trailer had huge potential, and after films like 300 and Gladiator, you would think that the creators would have much to work with. But, unfortunately, the result was incredibly lame..and here's why: acting - sub par at best..lines were presented half ass and didn't show emotion that is necessary for an epic of this scale.
action scenes - amateurishly shot. now here is where 300 comes in..because anyone could tell that they took what was made in that movie and threw it into this one..but with terrible results..i have never seen a more obvious studio room setting since the old horror movies from the 1920s. im sorry, but slow motion every half a second and CGI blood slatters do not a good story make.
thats really all there was to it..action and acting..for those into costumes and the like, there is much to enjoy looking at. but other than that..a huge disappointment of a first episode..and i can only speculate that the coming episodes will be just as lame. the hour i watched was like watching every scene from 300 thrown into a smaller time limit, with worse acting and worse direction. oh..and there is plenty of sex. shot exactly like the scene in 300. jeez..this is pretty much the poor mans 300. enough ranting for me, but cmon people, be more creative than that.
Body of Lies (2008)
Not a memorable Scott film, but still an entertaining movie.
I just finished watching this movie, and I must say I was quite disappointed. I think the biggest thing that killed it for me was my high expectations going in. Ridley Scott is one of my favorite directors, and his movies Gladiator and Black Hawk Down are 2 of my top 5 movies I've seen. When I saw the preview for this movie last summer sometime, I was immediately excited. Crowe, Leo, Scott, together for a crackling action movie...this equation spelled success in my book. But now I know I should have never set my hopes so high, heres why:
The good things: Ridley is a man who can set up his action sets perfectly. They were intense, brutal, realistic, and furthermore(sp?) engaged you into the film. The acting: Top notch. Crowe was excellent as always, Leo has become one of my favorite actors after Blood Diamond et al, and this movie is no exception. Visuals: another thing Scott does so well is set up amazing shots, esp. with overhead camera angles.
The bad things: I mentioned above that the action was everything you could ask for, but this is also the movies curse. All the big exciting scenes are left at the beginning of the movie, where you barely have time to get caught up on what exactly it is these characters are trying to do. While the plot/goal of this movie wasn't necessarily to be an action movie, it def. set itself up to be which is why the rest of the movie sort of flounders. After a couple intense scenes, the movie slows down to become boring, tedious, and repetitive. Also, one thing that had Gladiator working so well for it, was that you cared so much for Crowe's character and the outcome that you were there till the end. In this movie, Crowe (while he was excellent) was just kinda..there. You really didn't care at all what his objective was or that he was trying to help Leo. And then there was Leo, and while he too was excellent, the narrative carried him along, but failed to get the audience to really understand what he was doing, and, like i already said, to care. I just didn't care for either of the two actors in this movie, which was a shame because they worked so well with what they had. Now, the biggest thing for me that I found sorely missed (and this could just be me and my opinion so don't take it too seriously) is the rousing and thundering score that was so predominate in other Scott films. In Gladiator and BHD, the score moved along with the picture and helped it flow, and gave it more excitement. In this movie, the score was rather...annoying...and didn't carry the scenes along as well as other pictures have.
As you can see, the paragraph with the bad things is much bigger than the good things, but don't think its just a bad movie. This movie was a movie I somewhat enjoyed..but just once. I probably wont ever watch it again unless the occasion calls for it. I commend Scott and the actors for giving it their best, but unfortunately, this will be one of Scott's misfired movies, right there next to A Good Year.
I give it a 7, because its worth a look.
Sorry for the long post.