Rome is a triumph... of hype over actual dramatic achievement.
The HBO production fails to deliver in almost every way because it tries too much to please the executives of HBO and forgets about the audience.
It starts in a completely underwhelming and baffling fashion with a battle scene that is so poorly staged and directed that you can't see what is going on. The culprit: the usual attempt at "edge" by shaking the camera to and fro. That technique has never worked but it doesn't stop the executives to push it because they somehow convinced themselves that it was "hip". How pathetic! It's a pity that Michael Apted is the latest in a line of directors who used to know how to direct to stoop to that level of incompetence. I am shocked he attached his good name to this mess.
After that, the show doesn't get any better (or more historically accurate for the matter!) Everything is described as grim and dirty, again HBO executives' current taste for "edge" as they see it. The problem is this doesn't make for realism, but rather for a very poor visual presentation that is so hackneyed and artificial it reeks fakeness through every pore.
Then we of course had to see pointless sex scenes and pointless nudity which made the miniseries descend into Skinemax territory. Come to think of it, for dramatic content, one of those late night soft porn offerings delivers more for the money.
It is hard to believe that this mess cost so much money as there is no detailed re-creation of anything on-screen, only dirty sets and un-inspired computers paintings that sadly are a long way from matching old-fashioned matte paintings of yesteryear for artistic content. Once again, the demand for CGI because it's "digital" and therefore "hip" is probably the reason for this really bad choice.
In four words: Don't waste your time!
The HBO production fails to deliver in almost every way because it tries too much to please the executives of HBO and forgets about the audience.
It starts in a completely underwhelming and baffling fashion with a battle scene that is so poorly staged and directed that you can't see what is going on. The culprit: the usual attempt at "edge" by shaking the camera to and fro. That technique has never worked but it doesn't stop the executives to push it because they somehow convinced themselves that it was "hip". How pathetic! It's a pity that Michael Apted is the latest in a line of directors who used to know how to direct to stoop to that level of incompetence. I am shocked he attached his good name to this mess.
After that, the show doesn't get any better (or more historically accurate for the matter!) Everything is described as grim and dirty, again HBO executives' current taste for "edge" as they see it. The problem is this doesn't make for realism, but rather for a very poor visual presentation that is so hackneyed and artificial it reeks fakeness through every pore.
Then we of course had to see pointless sex scenes and pointless nudity which made the miniseries descend into Skinemax territory. Come to think of it, for dramatic content, one of those late night soft porn offerings delivers more for the money.
It is hard to believe that this mess cost so much money as there is no detailed re-creation of anything on-screen, only dirty sets and un-inspired computers paintings that sadly are a long way from matching old-fashioned matte paintings of yesteryear for artistic content. Once again, the demand for CGI because it's "digital" and therefore "hip" is probably the reason for this really bad choice.
In four words: Don't waste your time!