A handsome mess of a film that aims high but simply overreaches.
Its relevance to the flawed thinking underlying modern-day UK and US imperialism is remarkably clear because apposite, but its approach to its historical subject is fatally-compromised by a lackluster and chemistry-free love story involving the usually-excellent Sophia LOREN. This is made worse by the fact that she is the star of this farrago and, while wearing many fetching outfits, is unable to breathe any life into her pivotal (yet under-written) role.
This movie could have been a great celebration of the Five Good Emperors (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus & Aurelius) and the so-called Pax Romana. It could also have been a profound disquisition on the inability of empires to achieve anything but war because share-and-share-alike is not what underlies any empire - no matter the spurious claims of fighting for freedom (or justice or The American Way). The fear of provinces rising up against oppression - no matter how packaged - leads to a martial sprit that permanently enfranchises death-worship.
But this film never rises above its essential Hollywood requirement for the Bread & Circuses being decried here. Gladiator was a better film despite its implication that a poorly-named Pax Americana is a good idea for the modern world.
Worst of all, this movie offers a weak explanation of why the Roman Empire and, indeed, any empire always ultimately fails. Instead, it offers spectacle without much substance.
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