Spartacus

 

          

           Trying to find more Stanley Kubrick movies I've never seen, unfortunately this is the rare few that Stanley Kubrick claims in his words disowns as his canon of movies just because he didn't have much in terms of creative control value. Though in all fairness this film proves that Kubrick was capable of being able to shoot a grand scale epic, as is proven in his earlier films in the early seventies. Spartacus was one of the many epic movies in the fifties and early sixties that always made huge money, at the box-office although this was Kirk Douglas’ own passion project to the extent of not being the right choice for classic 1959 Best Picture winner. 

           The Rebellious Thracian Spartacus (Kirk Douglas), born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. After weeks of being trained to kill in the arena, Spartacus turns on his owners and leads the other slaves in rebellion. As the rebels move from town to town, their numbers swell as escaped slaves join their ranks. Under the leadership of Spartacus, they make their way to Southern Italy, where they will cross the sea and to return to their homes. 

           Now what I said earlier, about Kirk Douglas being his passion project is true, the process of developing Spartacus was out of failure of not getting the title role of Ben-Hur. For which sure, if I was an actor thinking I'm buff and attractive I would understand Douglas, but in terms of being a director I would want a young actor to play the title role not a 42 year old who thinks he can do all of those stunts, moreover I would probably imagine all of the directors or Kirks agents, in the early nineties and 2000 being called by Douglas saying he still wants to star in movies, and all them being so miserable and annoyed of having to explain Kirk that he's over 1,000 years old and doesn't remember where he is as well as probably told him out of frustration that he needs to go to an old folks home. If I had to rate this movie for sure I thought this was a good movie from start to finish and from a Stanley Kubrick standalone movie granted not his most memorable but still pretty good considering I would still rank this movie over the Shinning in a heartbeat. Furthermore I think my main problem with the movie is the blend of the conversation with action and when it comes to epic movies like Spartacus you need at least a fifty/fifty split of action and conversation flowing and at times I felt even in like the first act, that there was more conversation and less action, upon which caused my brain to turn mush and maybe thinking of turning the movie off, though I had to take certain breaks for sure. And important tip to all cinema fans, who haven't dived into the epics from the fifties and sixties, you need to at least take a break or two when watching this movie because of the length of the movie is and movies like these with a three-hour mark does take a toll on you. Furthermore that was another problem for me was understanding that these movies back then were almost made that way, and sure I could criticize about the length of the movie but then that would just be too unfair to criticize a movie where theaters paid for these kinds of movies for their concessions as well as break times, granted I never understood the men watching Gone with the Wind when it came out because it obviously wasn't for them, though I'm guessing they used a lot of bathroom break times when they put up with Scarlet acting like a b*tch. From my research I'm guessing Amazon Prime has taking off of its prime subscription for now, that being said if you’re feeling for an old school epic movie as well as diving into Kubrick's filmography, then I would highly recommend watching this movie along with constant breaks but I still look at this film as a way for Kubrick to prove himself and to Hollywood that he can actually do epic movies despite, Kubrick himself considering this film not in his pantheon of his best work. And yet for me after experiencing this movie I would honestly imagine Kubrick had to make this movie because he was hired by a fellow actor in Douglas and proving Hollywood that he can do these types of movies. Now, so far in my search of the best Stanley Kubrick films so far, I'd say it's for certain Dr. Strangelove because of its great comedic performances and directing and then follows with Full Metal Jacket. And number three is of course the most disturbing Kubrick film aka A Clockwork Orange in the top three best Kubrick films. Then we follow Spartacus, 2001 and the Shining as Kubrick's best films and I'm obviously going to be pushing both 2001 and Shining down the countdown soon, so don't you worry about that, but the quest continues for sure.