The Last Days of Pompeii will of course end with the great volcano. Until then, as you can guess, we get sword and sandals.
However, in a style that reminds us somewhat of de Mille, we get fantastic imagery and spectacular scenes, along with epic historical characters.
It does lack de Mille's brisk pace and comic relief, the comic relief provided by Overman and Tamirof in some of de Mille's best works.
And it is probably the lack of timely comic relief that makes this lull, particularly in the first half.
The second half is very brisk and crisp, however. It should make modern sword and sandal film makers very jealous.
The imagery is perhaps even better than de Mille. The hunky statue of the gladiator in the final scenes is almost as striking as de Mille's use of female beauty, and even reminds us of the beautiful femme fatale of Northwest Mounted Police.
Great acting, and most people will probably be most acquainted with the charismatic Basil as Pontius. His Pontius is a modern caring man. Indeed, the original Pontius was somewhere between the "thinker" and the "monster" and it seems no one wants to go in between the extremes. He savagely saw the Hebrews as a people not his own. However, odds are he did want to release Jesus. That doesn't make him less savage. It just means he was a strict "lawman", and Jesus wasn't the "punk" sort he felt needed to be crucified.
The effects were astounding, and the extras should have gotten an all time Academy Award for best extras. They worked their butts off, and emoted better than most modern day stars.
Crisp, brisk, full of art. With added comic relief and a brisker beginning, it would've easily been 10/10. This was a clever, well designed film, with characters we could care about.
However, in a style that reminds us somewhat of de Mille, we get fantastic imagery and spectacular scenes, along with epic historical characters.
It does lack de Mille's brisk pace and comic relief, the comic relief provided by Overman and Tamirof in some of de Mille's best works.
And it is probably the lack of timely comic relief that makes this lull, particularly in the first half.
The second half is very brisk and crisp, however. It should make modern sword and sandal film makers very jealous.
The imagery is perhaps even better than de Mille. The hunky statue of the gladiator in the final scenes is almost as striking as de Mille's use of female beauty, and even reminds us of the beautiful femme fatale of Northwest Mounted Police.
Great acting, and most people will probably be most acquainted with the charismatic Basil as Pontius. His Pontius is a modern caring man. Indeed, the original Pontius was somewhere between the "thinker" and the "monster" and it seems no one wants to go in between the extremes. He savagely saw the Hebrews as a people not his own. However, odds are he did want to release Jesus. That doesn't make him less savage. It just means he was a strict "lawman", and Jesus wasn't the "punk" sort he felt needed to be crucified.
The effects were astounding, and the extras should have gotten an all time Academy Award for best extras. They worked their butts off, and emoted better than most modern day stars.
Crisp, brisk, full of art. With added comic relief and a brisker beginning, it would've easily been 10/10. This was a clever, well designed film, with characters we could care about.