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Rome: The Complete Second Season by Various
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DVD Cover InformationActor: James Purefoy, Kevin McKidd, Lindsay Duncan, Polly Walker, Ray Stevenson Director: Various Brand: HBO DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Spanish (Dubbed) Format: AC-3, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen Picture Format: 1.78:1 Running Time: 600 minutes DVD Release Date: 2007-08-07 Audience Rating: Unrated Studio: HBO Home Video Product features: - The year is 44 B.C. Julius Caesar has been assassinated and civil war threatens to destroy the Republic. In the void left by Caesar's demise, egos clash and numerous players jockey for position. The brutally ambitious Mark Antony attempts to solidify his power, aligning himself with Atia, but coming to blows with her cunning son Octavian, who has been anointed in Caesar's will as his only son and
Movie Reviews of Rome: The Complete Second SeasonMovie Review: One of my all time favorite series... Summary: 5 StarsDrawn completely in by the first season, I couldn't wait to see how Octavian developed and what Marc Anthony did to avenge Caesar. Having studied Roman history I am aware of the facts, but to see them so faithfully portrayed in a work of fiction is absolutely amazing.
What is even more amazing is to see how the first season ended, with many of the main characters dead, and see how the second series would pick up and do just as well as the first season. The drama is powerful, the history is real and potent. The fictional characters Vorenus and Pullo a real and believable. The portrayal of not only Rome but of Egypt are so rich in detail that you can't help feel as though you were there.
I was heartbroken to see that the series was not to continue for a third season. It is understandable since costs were prohibitive, but also the fact that they had exhausted and killed off so many characters, remaining faithful to history, that it would be hard to continue on the series from there. No doubt Augustus Octavian Caesar's reign as emperor would have had enough fuel to power the show on, it is hard to reintroduce so many new characters into the series since, really, only Pullo, Octavian, Octavia and Atia are the only original characters still present.
That being said I absolutely love this series and rank this as one of my all time favorite shows to watch. I was eager to watch each episode, lost for an hour at a time before realizing it, and not the least worried about closure, since each series had closure in and of itself. I would recommend this series whole heartedly to any and all interested in watching a new series for its history and its drama.
5 stars.
Summary of Rome: The Complete Second SeasonThe year is 44 B.C. Julius Caesar has been assassinated and civil war threatens to destroy the Republic. In the void left by Caesar's demise, egos clash and numerous players jockey for position. The brutally ambitious Mark Antony attempts to solidify his power, aligning himself with Atia, but coming to blows with her cunning son Octavian, who has been anointed in Caesar's will as his only son and heir. Meanwhile Titus Pullo attempts to pull his friend Lucius Vorenus out of the darkness that has engulfed his soul in the wake of personal tragedy. For once again, the fates of these two mismatched soldiers seem inexorably tied to the fate of Rome itself. Unlike another certain celebrated HBO series, Rome's end will satisfy those swept up in its lavishly mounted spectacle and invested in the human dramas of the historical figures and fictional characters. Season 2 begins in the wake of Julius Caesar's assassination, and charts the power struggle to fill his sandals between "vulgar beast" Mark Antony (James Purefoy) and "clever boy" Octavian (Simon Woods), who is surprisingly named Caesar's sole heir. The series' most compelling relationship is between fellow soldiers and unlikely friends, the honorable Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) and Titus "Violence is the only trade I know" Pullo (Ray Stevenson), who somewhat reverse roles when Vorenus is overcome with grief in the wake of his wife's suicide. Season 2 considerably ups the ante in the rivalry between Atia (an Emmy-worthy Polly Walker), who is Antony's mistress, and Servilia (Lindsay Duncan) with attempted poisonings and sickening torture. Another gripping subplot is Vorenus's estrangement from his children, who, at the climax of the season opener are presumed slaughtered, but whose true fate may be even more devastating to the father who cursed them. Rome's second season does not scrimp on the series' sex and violence, in both cases exceedingly brutal. But in this cauldron of treachery and betrayal, words, too, are vicious, as when a defiant Atia ominously tells Octavian's new wife, Livia, "Far better women that you have sworn to [destroy me]. Go look for them now." In writing Rome's epitaph, we come to praise this series, not to bury it. Although two seasons was not enough to establish a Rome empire, it stands as one of HBO's crowning achievements. --Donald Liebenson
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