Epic Wednesday: Ancient Rome
Due to last month's move, and the attendant difficulties, I've not been making the progress on my movie list that I should have by this point in the summer.
So, starting yesterday, I established Epic Wednesday to knock off two to four movies in one day, preferably those which are "epic" in nature (i.e. insanely long) or those which are part of a series. Though I got a bit of a late start, I made it through Spartacus (3 hours, 18 minutes) and Ben-Hur (3 hours, 34 minutes). Spartacus is about the uprising of slaves, trained as gladiators, in ancient Rome. Ben-Hur is about the conflict between Jews and Romans in the Roman-ruled Jewish-inhabited historical land of Judea.
How did the films compare?
Both seemed overlong; Gladiator, which I've seen a number of times (and which obviously borrowed extensively from both films), gets the job done in half the time. You could argue that it only does so because of the themes and tropes established by the earlier films. Still, there seemed like a lot of bloat in both movies, the kinds of scenes that get cut these days because they're extraneous.
The action sequences in Spartacus were sort of amazing; the wide shot of the Roman army marching in formation just before the battle was quite spectacular. Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur may have out-growled Kirk Douglas in Spartacus, but Douglas was joined by Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton (again!), Peter Ustinov, and Tony Curtis, so Spartacus wins there again.
Most importantly, Spartacus had the benefit of not devolving into a sermon of glurge at the end, either. Ben-Hur actually started out ahead, with a more compelling story and more well-developed character conflicts. And then Jesus appeared, the music became mawkish, lepers were healed, Heston said, "His voice...makes me want to drop my sword," and it lost me for good. It just got laid on with a trowel.
Incidentally, I crossed a third film, Aliens, off the list later that night. Though certain annoying characters did not get killed off fast enough to suit me, Sigourney Weaver kicked butt, and the movie had a really effective combination of tension and action. And it was only two hours long! Fave of the day.
Comments
Posted by: Watch Free Movies Online
Posted on: June 22, 2009 04:30 PM
Benhur needs patience, long movie, should be remaked say by ridley scott....
but was good.....
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