“Rome”
Sunday night at 9 on HBO
(three and a half stars)
Since I am a fool for a good spectacle, it was with great trepidation that I watched HBO’s new Sunday night series, “Rome” with my daughter, Jess, the Roman scholar. I was terrified that she’d ruin it for me what with her facts and all.
So I sat there, like a spectator in the Roman Coliseum, waiting for Caesar to give the thumbs up or down. Happily she gave it a big thumbs up – and so do I.
Granted, everyone in the cast of ancient Romans has an English accent, which seems to be as relevant to Roman history as Caesar’s Palace, but still. Any of the alternatives to Oxford-English accents in these spectacles usually stink anyway.
Ancient Aramaic or Latin for a TV soap? And the planet you’re living on is -what?
American accents? I have two words for you: Harvey Keitel. (Think “The Last Temptation of Christ.”)
No – instead “Rome” sounds as English as the King James Version of The Bible. I can live with that. In fact, I prefer it.
The series opens in 52 B.C. (which HBO, bless their un-P.C. hearts, still call it), with Gaius Julius Caesar (Ciaran Hinds) ready to return to Rome after eight years of war. The aristocracy fears that he’s become such a popular hero that he’ll want to dissemble democracy and appoint himself emperor.
“Rome,” like the horrible ABC mini series, “Empire,” begins with the end of war and the rescue of Caesar’s nephew Octavian, (who did indeed become emperor).
In this version, two soldiers, Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd), and Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson) find Octavian (Max Pirkis) while on a mission for Marc Antony (James Purefoy).
Enter Caesar’s evil niece, (who put the “bitch” in “ambitious) Atia (Polly Walker), Octavian’s mother. In addition to sending the boy to greet Caesar, she is sending her beautiful daughter, the married Octavia (Kerry Condon), as a present to Caesar’s old man friend, Pompey (Kenneth Cranham).
Told in an “Upstairs, Downstairs” sort of way, the story of “Rome” unfolds through the lives of the two soldiers (who actually existed) as well as the larger-than-life historic figures.
Filmed in an accurately recreated gigantic set in Rome, the series is authentic down to the very colorful buildings. (No – the buildings weren’t white marble – the paint just fell off after a few thousand years and a few thousand wars.)
The only chink in the series’ armour is the miscasting of Polly Walker as the evil Atia. She overacts so much, that it’ll make you ache for Sian Phillips’ long-ago portrayal as Livia in “I Claudius.” While “Rome’s” not as great as that old series, it’s still deserves a helluva Hail Caesar!