The origins of Spartacus (Anthony Flanagan) is lost in the fog of history which was written by his enemies. He and his wife are brought to the slave market in 73 BC Rome. They are split apart and Spartacus is bought by Batiatus, owner of a gladiator school in Capua. Oenameaus is a veteran gladiator and the narrator of this piece who befriends the new recruit. The gladiators revolt starting from 70 to an army of thousands of freed slaves. Crassus is the opportunistic wealthy Roman who takes charge of the forces against Spartacus.
There have been a couple of first-rate telling of Spartacus from the iconic 1960 movie to the more recent TV show with everything in between. This one adds relatively little to the story. The action could never match either of the earlier versions. Its restriction to tell the historical truth probably kept it from doing something new. It also doesn't help that there is no historical account from Spartacus' point of view. Flanagan is not that charismatic and this version of Spartacus is more indecisive. He gets pushed by Crixus looking for revenge. That may be the truth but it's not cinematic. It's educational to have the story stripped down to its historical core but it's not much more.
There have been a couple of first-rate telling of Spartacus from the iconic 1960 movie to the more recent TV show with everything in between. This one adds relatively little to the story. The action could never match either of the earlier versions. Its restriction to tell the historical truth probably kept it from doing something new. It also doesn't help that there is no historical account from Spartacus' point of view. Flanagan is not that charismatic and this version of Spartacus is more indecisive. He gets pushed by Crixus looking for revenge. That may be the truth but it's not cinematic. It's educational to have the story stripped down to its historical core but it's not much more.
