Cleopatra
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Movie Reviews of Cleopatra
Movie Review: Great Deal!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Great! no doubt about bying again sthg, via this metod. Arrived as Stipulated and condicions new, as said. thanx. and dont hesitate!
Movie Review: An epic of grand scale!
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie was amazing, especially for being made for TV. Great, wonderful, awesome... all of the above.Movie Review: Great movie
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this movie and I bought this brand new. This is definitely for any history buffs out there.Movie Review: Revisioning history
Summary: 4 Stars
This production of Cleopatra, intended originally as a miniseries on television, is a reasonably good production with significant differences from the block-buster Hollywood version starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison. Cleopatra here is depicted as someone striving to maintain her own position, not necessarily someone with an eye toward world-wide conquest. Cleopatra is portrayed as an inexperienced person (both sexually and politically) until tutored by the more experienced Romans. She comes to understand her fate is inextricably intertwined with Caesar, then Antony, but her love for Antony keeps her from making the politically expedient move of giving in to Octavian. Apparently two Roman rulers are enough for one lifetime.
Like the earlier film production, this one plays fast and loose with the actual history, albeit in different ways. The figure of Octavian/Augustus is far more present earlier here than he was in history; for a production that goes on the greater part of three hours, remarkably little detail about the history is brought forward, and I found that distracting. The last hour could have easily been recut into a half-hour, and some judicious editing throughout the rest of the film could make it into a much better paced two-hour film.
The acting was tolerable but generally unconvincing. Timothy Dalton as Julius Caesar, Billy Zane (who got top billing) as Marc Antony, and Rupert Graves as Octavian were not up to their usual acting standards in this production. Dalton was not very expressive, and Zane and Graves were overly so (Graves plays an almost flippant character, not at all in keeping with the historical Augustus). Ironically, the title character Cleopatra was played by relative newcomer Leonor Varela, who was probably the best actor in the piece.
The sets are great, as are the costumes (if not always appropriate - Cleopatra rarely wore Egyptian garb, preferring her more native Greek), and the music is worthwhile. The battle scenes are pretty typical television fare (with occasional glitches that make these seem more minor skirmishes than great battles). Unfortunately, the sea-going scenes of ships looked far too obviously fake to suspend disbelief.
This is a pleasant diversion, but in the end not a truly memorable production save for bits and pieces here and there. But it is a good thing that such productions are still being undertaken.
Movie Review: Blows Away the '63 Version
Summary: 4 Stars
I tried watching the 1963 version of "Cleopatra" with Elizabeth Taylor a few years ago and gave up after about 90 adventure-less minutes of boring dialogue. The 1999 version makes up for this shortcoming as it combines much action & adventure with the expected melodrama.
A few memorable highlights are as follows:
-- Timothy Dalton is outstanding as Julius Caesar. The only other flicks I remember seeing him in were his two James Bond outings, which didn't impress me much; but in "Cleopatra" Dalton has an undeniable commanding presence as Caesar. That distinguishing cleft chin of his somehow fits the role just perfect.
-- Billy Zane is also great as Marc Antony. I only know him from two other roles -- the psycho killer in "Dead Calm" and the love-to-hate villain in "Titanic." His character in "Cleopatra" is the express opposite of these former roles; as Marc Antony, Zane is both likable and heroic, not to mention loyal and realistically human.
-- There are some great Moroccan locations for the outdoor scenes. The indoor & city sets are good and have that distinctive Egyptian vibe; the costuming as well.
-- The multifaceted score isn't overly bombastic but it is very fitting, properly edited and memorable.
As for Leonor Varela, the actress who plays Cleopatra, she has the requisite exotic looks for the part yet she's a bit bland. She's undeniably good-looking, but she's not my cup of tea (too thin), so all that leaves (for me) is her performance, which is merely adequate. However, I'll say this: she's a hundred times more fitting for the role than Elizabeth Taylor!
The '63 version utterly failed to pull me into its story; this '99 version pulls you right into the storyline and is easy to follow. I'm not saying that it's the most captivating piece of cinema but it's a masterpiece compared to the '63 rendition.
WARNING: The run time of the film is 177 minutes, so if you buy the DVD be sure that it has this FULL run time (Amazon says it does); I saw the VHS version and it only had a run time of 139 minutes, so I got ripped-off a whole 38 minutes! Now I'll have to pick up the DVD and see the FULL film (I thought there were a few holes here and there).