Spartacus: Blood and Sand: Season 1 [Blu-ray]: Superb sets & costuming. Bought before streaming, I'm still very glad to have the physical discs in my library. No worries about searching for a stream and seeing if I'm subscribed. These high quality discs load and play great, without any issues in my LG player, through a mid-level Sony amp, into a 55" Vizio OLED TV. Very Highly Recommended!

WARNING:

This movie has intense depictions of graphic violence, language, sexuality, and nudity. It is recommended for a mature audience (ages 18 and older).

INTRO

This gripping tale of Spartacus, the legendary 1st century Gladiator during the rule of Rome is a spectacular series featured on Starz. The story develops with our hero, a Thracian warrior, enlisted by the Romans to fight against the Getae. Andy Whitfield plays the warrior who leads a mutiny against the legion's leader, Claudius Glaber. Upon being captured, his wife is sold into slavery while Thracian warrior is sentenced to die in the arena against 4 gladiators. We battles the gladiators and wins with the crowds cheering for his victory. The scene is a dynamic and rather gory display of violence, taken to the highest level. The sheer brutality depicted in the finale of the 1st episode and demonstrated throughout the subsequent episodes is a trademark of the entire miniseries. Taken in by Lentulus Batiatus (who inherited a school of Gladiators from his father), he names the warrior Spartacus, after a Thracian King. It is the transformation over the course of the series whereby Spartacus is trained from Warrior to Gladiator. Doctore (played by Peter Mensah, who played the messenger in 300), a former gladiator, trains the group of men in a rigid and disciplined manner.

THE STORY

The quest for Spartacus' freedom is what motivates him to continue to fight, in alliance with his "Master" Batiatus. Batiatus' wife battles infertility and is in support of her husband, every step of the way - while pleasing herself with the school's prime fighter, Crixus, in various rendevous with him.

The story and character development help weave the story of this Gladiator who goes on to lead a slave uprising against the Romans. As the story progresses, we see the alliance that Spartacus has made with his Dominus, Batiatus. Multiple stories are intertwined as the characters progress throughout the series. Does Lucretia continue her affairs with Crixus to the end? How about Crixus' fascination with Naevia, the slave closest to Lucretia? The brotherhood between Spartacus and Batiatus show the human side of Spartacus, as they train together. The conniving Ashur is a snakelike metaphor who interweaves his life between the training grounds and the city, doing his will for Batiatus. The sly Ilithyia befriends Lucretia but how does their friendship endure through the plight of Batiatus' thirst for power in Capua. Solonius the ever suave opponent of Batiatus frequently vies for Lucretia's attention while plotting with Ashur, in the darkness. Does Sura reunite with her Spartacus? Will Crixus regain the glory of "Champion of Capua", and how does Doctore aid in Crixus' ascent back to the crowds' favor? Each episode is compelling, and the acting is superb. The odd references to sexuality made by Batiatus' experiences with getting the lower hand in many events is somewhat puzzling, and I hope that the Blu-ray version gives insight to the history between Batiatus and Solonius. The true love/hate relationship we have for Batiatus as an underachieving owner of a Ludis, while plotting to gain money and power behind the scenes, shows a dynamic character portrayed by John Hannah (Best known from The Mummy Series). Many of the key characters are British or from New Zealand. Viva Blanca who plays Ilithyia is a beautiful actress that we just love to hate.

DETAILS

The movie is in the same vein (sorry, in this case, artery) as 300 and the Gladiator, but makes those movies look tame in comparison.

Cinematography is left to rendered landscapes and simple sets with emphasis in the Villa, Ludis and town. The visuals are well done and the heroes and heroines are detailed with authentic appearing costumes, blood, scars and physiques (feminine and masculine) in a consistent form. Language of the actors is more a reflection of their native tongue, I surmise, versus the actual accents by which the Romans, Gauls and Thracians spoke.

Each episode has stunning fight scenes in the arenas or at the Batiatus villa with vicious brutality, gore and violence. The violence is so extreme, at times, that other movies and shows pale in the comparison from the liters of blood that is spilled from the characters. Almost every episode has scenes of sexuality and nudity.

The last episode is an amazing, fast-paced and graphically gory conclusion to one of the best mini-series that I have ever watched on cable television.

CONCLUSION

This movie is a definite must see and must have for your Blu-ray collection. I have pre-ordered it and it will become part of the Pantheon of "Man Movie Night"!!!

As described

Entertaining, but I wonder how much artistic license was taken with this production of Spartacus. The double crossing and intrigue are at times deliciously done. The violence and eroticism are plenty, and those who complain about it, well, you had every opportunity to read others reviews and look at the ratings.
The viewer can be captivated by the visceral nature of the production, or be turned off. I find it interesting, and it will pique my interest in doing a bit of research into what actually happened, and a bit more into these gladiatorial schools

Some of the CGI is necessary for scale but the blood splashes are little more than comic book. There is a little bit for everybody in the initial season of Spartacus. Beefcake and cheesecake galore, time period violence, political maneuvering by male and females, as well as the gladiators themselves. After having viewed the 13 episodes of Spartacus, I found myself entertained, looking for more, chuckling at times in disbelief. An entertaining soap opera ~ two thousand years in the making.

This collection is outstanding..once you get past the porn and orgies and The word
Cock in almost every scene..I'm just curious as to know..if these guys were all gay..to do the sex scenes..because of the things they did with these beautiful women ..
Makes me wonder..if they were not gay..how did the control themselves from truly getting hard when doing those sex scenes..or at the least..becoming aroused...because they we're truly baring all..in those scenes..and there were a lot of these scenes in
This collection..but these Gladiators..could truly be Marines of that time and era ..I was looking for another movie when I came across this collection..of which is TRULY " R " RATED .and not from kids...and I truly loved the final ending episodes..it made the whole collection worth purchasing...AND I CAN TRULY SAY THAT IM GLAD..THAT I WAS NOT BORN IN TIMES..ESPECIALLY
AS A SLAVE...

If you are expecting this Starz original series to be similar to the
1960 Academy Award-winning version with Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis
then you've got another thing coming! (-: That was general audiences
material there!---Made in more gentile and conservative times.
This version is probably closer to actually how things might have been
back in ancient times....brutal savage fight scenes with lots of
blood and gore, the wildness, heathen decadence, and bloodlust of the ancient
Roman fans gathered at the colosseum to witness the battle of the fittest and
the drama of life & death played out right in front of their eyes!
If that wasn't enough, then what goes on behind the scenes in the household of
the very pragmatic and manipulative "domino" and "domina", who rule over a large
menagerie of slaves of all types, but mainly those trained as gladiators for profit
is something to rival the most tawdry of modern antics!
There's plenty of drama, lies, backstabbing, lustfulness, full-on nudity
and sexuality which spans the whole spectrum of human interaction!
Oh yeah, and more blood, guts and gore added in to round it out! (-:

But beneath all of this sensuality and sensationalism is a very well-filmed,
well-acted, well-written, well-produced, well-casted, and well-marketed
original series for the Starz network which rivals anything you might see
on HBO or Showtime. I repeat, this isn't for everyone...
so if you have objections to anything I named above, then you probably
won't like this series. After screening this, THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON,
over the past weekend, I must say that I enjoyed it immensely, even though
I don't subscribe to STARZ.
If it reminds you a bit stylistically of the blockbuster film "300",
then it's because their producers are one in the same.
It's too bad that the star of the show who plays Spartacus,
british actor Andy Whitfield, a beautiful male specimen among many in
the series, fell victim to non-hodgkins lymphoma while on hiatus after
the first season was completed. He was treated with a series of chemo and
radiation over a few months and was cleared to return to work for season two,
but sadly the cancer has returned and he is unable to resume the role
as of the present time. Now the powers that be at Starz are trying to
figure out what their next move will be. I hope Mr. Whitfield will make a full
recovery and this series can at least go for another two seasons before
closing itself out. I mean, we all know the story of Spartacus and how it ends.
But I'd love to see how this crew would play it all out.

**In Memoriam** I was so sad to hear that Andy Whitfield, the original Spartacus in this series,
passed away last week after battling Non-Hodgkins lymphoma for 18 months. He was just beginning to be known
as an actor when Spartacus came along and catapulted his career...then the cancer reared it's ugly head.
He was only 39 yrs old...so sad and such a waste, but who are we to question the divine order of the universe?
R.I.P. To the late Andy Whitfield (1972-2011)

As the title of my review implies, Spartacus: Blood and Sand is one of the best original series that I have seen in years, something that for the first time in quite awhile I really got into and was captivated by. Before I get into the review, I will throw out a caution - if you're really turned off by lots of graphic violence, nudity and strong sexual content then this is NOT for you as there is quite a lot of that content. That being said, fortunately that is not all there is to the series and even that aspect is blended very artsitically into the series as a whole.

The series follows a man who's true name we do not know but to whom his colleagues and commanders refer to as Spartacus after a Threcian king that apparently conquered a large amount of enemies with a small force. This name is bestowed upon him after his first showing in a Gladiator colliseum after he defeats a number of trained gladiators single handedly. The character Spartacus begins as a Threcian warrior who agrees to join forces with the main Roman army to fight back enemy forces near his territory. Unfortunately for him, his goals in protecting his family and kinsmen do not meet with the goals of the Roman commander and he comes to be an outlaw captured and sent to the gladiator arena to die. Obviously he does not die so easily or else there wouldn't be much of a series.

Some might compare this beginning of the plot to the movie Gladiator and I will say that it is somewhat similar; but with enough dissimilarity to adaquetly distinguish itself from what I felt was a very sub-par movie. The trials and tribulations of Spartacus working his way up through the gladiator ranks is protrayed beautifully in this epic saga as Spartacus makes friends and enemies among his fellow gladiators. The roles of the gladiators and the ruler of the gladiator house that Spartacus is bound to, Batiatus, are masterfully played by the actors that were selected and Spartacus himself is a very likeable character that one can relate to well. All the time that he is in the gladiator house, he is searching for a way to reunite with his family, which was taken from him by the Romans. At the same time, he begins to lose himself in the glory of being a gladiator and has to decide what is more important to him, friendship and family, or glory, fame and honor. Overall, it is just a very gripping series and I truly hope that the actor Andy Whitfield will be able to return from his battle with cancer to make a 2nd season and beyond.

Also on a side note, I once again have to commend Amazon on their incredibly quick shipping. I ordered this on a Monday with super saver shipping and received the blu-ray set on the following Thursday...3 days, amazing!

If you haven't seen this and don't mind the violence and sexual content, please do yourself a favor and watch.

This is the single most historically accurate film / series on the Roman empire I have ever seen. It becomes immediately obvious that the series was heavily inspired by [[ASIN:B00009ZYBY Gladiator (Widescreen Edition)]] and [[ASIN:B000QXDED6 300 (Widescreen Edition)]]. Of course, there is certainly nothing wrong w/that as both of these films were quite well done.

There are too many tidbits of historical accuracy to mention, but I will point out a few. In the arena sequences, the gladiators are shown with their sword arms being padded. This is true to form as the Romans loathed a quick bout. The last thing they wanted to see was a gladiator with his sword arm disabled as he would not be able to fight back against his adversary.

Also, the gladiators did collect their sweat, mostly for wealthy Roman matrons who wanted to use it to remove wrinkles & improve their health. One of the gladiators is a freeman instead of a slave. This has historical veracity as well as occasionally people in dire financial straits would voluntarily become gladiators and bet on themselves to get out of debt.

Not a whole lot is known about the historical Spartacus, other than the fact that he was a Thracian slave who was trained to be a gladiator at a gladiatorial school (known as a ludus) in the Roman city of Capua. This allows the writers a great deal of leeway to ad-lib on history. The result is a remarkable series which takes its time to slowly unfurl the storyline.

For a series that stars a bunch of buffed up dudes, the acting is pretty darn good. As a matter of fact, it's downright exceptional. Andy Whitfield has a fabulous screen presence and none of the actors portraying gladiators come across as big dumb oafs (thankfully they didn't cast the bland John Cena for the series!). As was the case for [[ASIN:B000QXDED6 300 (Widescreen Edition)]], the actors go through a month long boot camp to become ripped.

SPARTACUS scores very high on the skin-o-meter, which is always a good thing. Also, the gladiator bouts are not for the squeamish. It's good to see that Lucy Lawless has no qualms about nudity, now that her XENA days are over. The series does a terrific job of really taking us inside the ludus with all of its brutality & debauchery.

This is a series that is bound to be appealing to both men & women. Men will love it due to all of the action & nudity, while women will be drawn to all of the muscle-bound jocks. For those who are interested in a fictional account of a female gladiator ludus, I would highly recommend [[ASIN:B0041T4P4S Gladiatrix]]. If Roman history is your gig, then this series is most assuredly for you!