REVIEW: Spartacus: Blood and Sand

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From Sam Raimi (Spider-Man) and Robert Tapert comes a 300 cash-in that's 3 years too late.

Raimi and Tapert have had TV success with syndicated adventure shows like Hercules, Xena: Warrior Princess, and Legend of the Seeker. However, this time it's going to be a bit tougher. For starters, the show is not that good. It's too cheesy. Their other shows are as well, but with those they embraced it. Here they think it's "hip." 300, the movie that inspired this show's style, was on thin ice. It was very close to being ridiculous and eye rolling but the talents of Zack Snyder, Gerald Butler, and Frank Miller prevented that from happening. Here, the ice melts. Plus they balance that with drama that doesn't quite work. The actors try their best, but the dialogue doesn't do them any favors.

In the pilot, which premieres tonight at 10pm on Starz, we are treated to Spartacus' origin and his first fight as a gladiator. So, even if someone accepts and enjoys the 300 style, they may still be bothered by the script. Everything moves too fast and doesn't allow the opportunity to care about anything that occurs. The argument could be made that as the show goes on the audience will get that chance. However, if they squeezed all of this into an hour then that's just a bad sign of things to come. Still, one could give the second episode the benefit of the doubt, but as of now there isn't much hope.