Spartacus: Blood and Sand(S1) Review

 

Some legends are written in blood.

Release Date: September 21, 2010 (DVD/Blu Ray)
Rated: Not Rated
Run Time: 692 minutes
Episodes: 13
Gene: Action/Drama/Fantasy

I love blood and guts like most male movie goers are, But when it comes to TV series some times you just dont get the right amount of it, well thats when Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Steps in and kicks you into the dirt.

This series from the get go is covered in blood, as you can tell from the name of the series it hides nothing from its viewers, which it has no real need to keep the rating down or anything of the such as it is a show on Starz(a Premium movie channel)

Before the series aired people wondered if it could be worth the time to even give it a shot, as who really watches series on starz when you still have HBO and Showtime giving us great series every season. This is when Spartacus came into view, It was that must watch event for starz, they hoped it would catch on like Weeds or Dexter and so on.

When the series finally made its debut it came with mix reactions for most, which I must agree after watching the first episode I couldn't even understand why anyone would watch this series let alone say it was so worth while.

That is the thing, the first episode is pure trash in my opinion as well as others, but I did not give up on the series after only one episode, i kept at it. I must admit it didn't take long at all for this to catch my attention. Episode two the story easily starts to grab me.

As the series goes on you quickly fall in love or find pure hate for characters, This show is all about the story which most people may find odd as it has so much blood, sex and straight up violence in it at all times. That just might be something to help the not so Story loving folks, stay viewers.

As for myself, I found love with characters. Varro played by Jai Courtney became an instant favorite of mine, As he had the good guy role placed out before him but easily showed some what of a darker side as things go on. But he was no match against Ashur(played by Nick Tarabay) as far as dark side goes. Then again this series show plenty of evil from multiple people, some are given reason pushed by good intention but others....Just for blood.

The acting is top notch surprisingly from everyone, not a single character brought me out of this series, Lucy Lawless has his best roles in years(not that it was very hard to do so) and Andy Whitfield became a star.

I Dont feel as if i should go more into the story other than what starz has already told you in the info guide, which is Spartacus is screwed over by a Roman general and then sold as a slave to Batiatus (played by a pure genius in John Hannah) to train to become a Gladiator, The basic story shows his rise to glory but we also have side stories that bleed into the over all arch, which is very well done.

I must give some bad thoughts on the series, which as i have already mentioned before hand, I personally think the first episode was bad. I do look back on it now and know it was setting things up but I just found it boring and i had no feeling for anyone, but that quickly changed as i kept watching.

Plenty of people will give hate for the blood and gore that is in this series, Its green screen CGI stuff somewhat like the scenes from the movie "300" but some of the blood defiantly feels a bit out of place or overly spilled. Some of the blood is done very well and done more from a make up point of view than that of CGI(Make up always wins over CGI for me) but I grew to not be bothered by the poor CGI. Which is also seen when they show us the stadium or selected areas of the world, That CGI is poor at all times.

On to the nudity, Some may be turned off by nudity on television, I'm not on of them as i really dont care either way but trust me if you dont find your self enjoying a Boob once in awhile, You will find hatred for this series, Boobs are not the only thing you will lay eyes upon.
A slight spoiler that must be mentioned, Penis does find plenty of time on screen, especially in one bloody scene....I guess this isnt much of a spoiler but still. That was horrific and awesome but not for the weak at heart.

I watched all 13 episodes thanks to netflix but sadly it apparently ends its streaming status come 8-20-10.

Without any doubt I think this show is a must watch for story lovers, Blood lovers, nudity freaks and anyone that just wants to watch something a bit different than some of the other stuff we find on your TV sets.

The DVD comes out next month, I hope to add it to my collection as this is a champion among Series.