Spartacus: Blood and Sand

After seeing the 1960 film Spartacus, I was interested in seeing the recent television series based on the same story. Spartacus: Blood and Sand aired on the Starz network, whatever that is, and it's cheesy good fun, with over-the-top violence and sex.

The Spartacus story has many versions, and this one picks and chooses elements to suit its needs. Here we have Andy Whitfield as a Thracian warrior who, along with his men, join the Roman auxiliary to ward off an attack from a common enemy. They get screwed over by the Romans, though, and he ends up in a gladiator camp, his wife sold into slavery. He is named Spartacus, after a Thracian king (a conceit throughout the series is that we never learn his real name).

Whitfield puts up with all sorts of indignities while being trained as a gladiator, but he puts up with it because the lanista (the owner of the camp) promises him that as long as he proves loyal, he will look for his wife. The lanista is played by John Hannah with thorough hamminess, while his wife is played by Lucy Lawless. The two scheme to get ahead, buttering up luminaries while simultaneously working to defeat their enemies. The last few episodes are great fun as revenge is taken and we build to the ultimate slave rebellion that we all know is coming.

The other plot line is Whitfield's rivalry with the champion, Crixus (Manu Bennett), who has embraced his slavery and the glory of the arena. He ends up following in love with a slave girl, and slowly has his eyes opened that Whitfield is not his enemy, but a potential brother. The moment in the last episode when the two team up is quite thrilling.

I must admit that the first few episodes had some tough sledding, getting used to the overly stylized visuals (it looks like a graphic novel), with an over-emphasis on spurting blood, slow-motion action, and dialogue that recalls the old sandal-and-toga epics of the 1950s. Once I got used to it, though, it started being fun, and the gladiatorial battles were very well done. Because it's cable, the violence was more graphic than usual, with beheadings, disembowlments, and dismemberment--fun for the whole family.

The greatest thing about Spartacus: Blood and Sand is all the nudity. There is plenty of it, and appeals to three different demographic groups: men (there are scores of gorgeous women, many of them slaves, which ignites all sorts of fantasies); women (the gladiators are gorgeous, sculpted hunks wearing little more than loincloths); and gay men (see the appeal to women, plus the way the men are oiled for battle, plus full-frontal male nudity). At times it gets close to soft-core porn status, with naked bodies humping against each other. Gotta love it.