BLU-RAY REVIEW: Spartacus The Complete Series

[JessHorsley]

Four Seasons Of Swords, Sex And Roman Demise Hit Hi-Def Home Video...

It's taken me nearly four weeks to watch all four seasons (2,143 minutes) of STARZ's original series Spartacus. Including three sequential seasons and a prequel season, the controversial show - which included some of the most gratuitous violence and unadulterated, sexually provocative scenes ever to show on cable TV - has become a hit for STARZ, which has now released all four seasons in one glorious, beautifully realized boxed set - Spartacus: The Complete Series.

Before I get to a review of the complete series, a little background...

In its inaugural episode, which aired on January 22, 2010, Spartacus: Blood and Sand set records for Starz. With over 1 million viewers catching the premiere, the series was off to an amazing start. The remainder of the season, the show would average nearly 1.3 million viewers each week, proving the series' success quite quickly. The story was fairly simple: set in the year 71 B.C., the Thracian warrior-turned-Roman slave and gladiator Spartacus (played brilliantly by actor Andy Whitfield) was betrayed, sold into slavery, sent to the Roman providence of Capua and forced to fight for his life by Quintus Lentulus Batiatus (John Hannah), a Roman citizen in charge of a ludus, or gladiator school. Batiatus, as Lanista (or head) of the gladiator school, fought other local Roman citizens and Lanista for dominance and popularity. And it was here - in the series' first season - that viewer's excitement, intrigue and fascination with Roman culture would begin. Amid the Roman orgies and violent gladiatorial dismemberment was a bold and bitter story of love, betrayal, rage and revenge the like of which had never before been seen on TV. Thus, a second season was given the green light.

Sadly, series star Andy Whitfield was diagnosed with cancer and a sequel season was put on hiatus. Instead, a prequel season - Spartacus: Gods of the Arena - was produced with actor Dustin Clare starring as Gannicus, a Celtic gladiator from the House of Batiatus. Staring many of the same actors and actresses from the first season and introducing a number of new characters and plot lines, this prequel season - which featured only six episodes - built on the success of the first season while providing time for series star Whitfield to recover.

Tragically, in September 2011, Whitfield passed, having lost his battle with cancer. Show runners and Starz struggled with what to do next, never had a series replaced a main character like this before. Thankfully, a new star was found to step into Spartacus' sandals with the introduction of Australian actor Liam McIntyre, who would become Spartacus for both the second season, Spartacus: Vengeance, and the third and final season, Spartacus: War of the Damned. These two seasons would explore the ventures of Spartacus and his army of gladiators and slaves-turned-rebel warriors as they rebelled against the Roman Empire and drove a wedge into the republic's injustices, and specifically the slave trade.

The Spartacus series - like the real Roman slave revolt upon which it's based - is set in the years 71 - 73 B.C., during a very tumultuous time in Roman history. The exploits of the real Spartacus are varied at best and, while there is little doubt a revolutionary leader by the name Spartacus existed, who he was, where he was from and why he fought are still unknown today. Spartacus show runner Steven DeKnight thankfully does a marvelous job of introducing and intertwining those things which make Spartacus such an inspirational character as well as lends a flair for the fictional in introducing unique and new characters, motives and desires as the four seasons become one fluid and massive work of art. At 39 episodes in all, Spartacus flows as if a single story, never losing momentum or speed as plot lines are tied up, question are answered as new trouble brews and new enemies sprout from the voids left by the dead and defeated.

Whether it's the rivalry and eventual brotherhood found between characters like Oenomaus (Peter Mensah) and Gannicus (Dustin Clare), the hate first felt between Spartacus (Whitfield/McIntyre) and Crixus (Manu Bennett), the love lost and later found again between Crixus and Naevia (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), or the brotherhood and friendships forged in battle against Romans between the various gladiators and slaves, the series introduces viewers to a number of primary and secondary story lines which reveal personal motivations which oftentimes have season or even series-wide effects. The rivalry and later partnership between Spartacus and Crixus is instrumental in the revolution while individual gladiators each have their own unique stories that reveal interesting opportunities for view emotional investment. In particular is the story of love found between Agron (Dan Feuerriegel) and Nasir (Pana Hema-Taylor) and the revenge story of Ashur (Nick E. Tarabay). While there are quite literally a dozen or so smaller story lines such as these, each and every minute part and piece of the series plays a role in the complete and whole development of the series.

While the series obviously takes liberties with factual history, the show goes a bit far in the final season by introducing and drawing on the popularity of Roman leader (and later emperor) Julius Caesar (played well by Todd Lasance). Caesar was never known to have battled Spartacus nor taken part in battling the slave rebellions upon which the TV series is based, but that doesn't stop the writers from making him a main antagonist in the final season. That said, writers no doubt stay true to the show's overarching theme by introducing Caesar for the specific purpose of introducing a three-part rivalry - this time between Caesar and Roman general and leader Marcus Crassus (Simon Merrells) and Roman warrior (and later emperor) Tiberious (Christian Antidormi). By providing a look at the internal struggle of the Roman Empire, viewers are given a look at why the republic eventually fell.

Throughout the entire series, the thematic use of dichotomy - between victory and defeat, love and lust, revenge and justice - are all featured prominently. Obviously these are themes humanity has dealt with since the beginning of time and these feelings have not changed nor will never change. To introduce these emotions and characters who reflect our own feels of wanton desire for dominance, popularity, victory, success and - ultimately - freedom and life - only makes Spartacus: The Complete Series even more attractive and appealing to viewers.

The first season - Spartacus: Blood and Sand- includes multiple audio commentaries, including three new commentaries exclusive to this newly released collection. The first season also includes various featurettes, including Gladiator Camp, Grime and Punishment, Andy Gets Plastered, Lenged Re-Imagined, Oh, Those Randy Romans, Shooting Green: The Shadow of Death, Exposing Your Ludus and the Blu-ray exclusives Movie IQ, Spartacus Historicus: Pop-Up History and four extended episodes.

The second season - Spartacus: Gods of the Arena - includes various featurettes, including Starz Studios: Gods of the Arena Behind-the Scenes, Weapons of Mass Disruption, Battle Royale: Anatomy of a Scene, On Set With Lucy Lawless, 10 Easy Steps to Dismemberment, Post Production: The Final Execution, Enter the Arena: Production Design, Dressed to Kill, Convention Panel, Arena Bloopers, and Blu-ray exclusives 3D "Ring of Fire" Battle Sequence and numerous extended episodes.

The third season - Spartacus: Vengeance - includes various featurettes, including Starz Studios - Spartacus: Vengeance, The Making Of Spartacus: Vengeance, Behind The Camera: Directing The Rebellion, On The Set With Liam McIntyre, Burning Down The House: The VFX of Episode 205, The Legend of Spartacus, Famous Last Words (with Lucy Lawless), Bloopers, a teaser Spartacus: War of the Damned, the series' final season, and Blu-ray exclusive audio commentary and numerous extended episodes.

The fourth and final season - Spartacus: War of the Damned - includes various featurettes, including Spartacus: The Legend Retold, The Price Of Being A Gladiator, A Bloody Farewell, The Spoils Of War Revealed: Visual Effects, Adorning The Damned and The Mind Behind Spartacus as well as Blu-ray exclusive audio commentaries and numerous extended episodes.

It's impossible to say in this review just how impressive Starz' Spartacus has been over the last four years. The series has introduced a new genre of TV which, while previously popular on the big screen thanks to films like Gladiator and 300, was rarely if ever featured on the small screen. With Spartacus, Starz has proven not only can bloody, violent and sexually charged historical fiction rule, but it does so by not just featuring blades, blood and breasts, but brilliant acting, impressive dialogue, relevant themes and conflict the likes of which few shows on TV have ever produced. Not for the faint of heart nor for those with sensitive dispositions, Spartacus: The Complete Series is one of the best releases of the year and one of the high points of TV on home video in history. There's no better time to catch up or catch the full 39 episodes of this amazing series than today.

Be sure to check out the trailer for Spartacus: The Complete Series below and be sure to pick up your copy of this amazing series, available now on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy wherever fine home video is sold.

- Jess C. Horsley