Rome back in 2007!! (1 Viewer)

[ScottH]

Speaking of 'Band of Brothers', whatever happened to that follow-up series that the Spielberg/Hanks team was gonna produce? I think it had something to do with the U.S. battling the Japanese in WWII.

EDIT: Found this link.

 

[Phil Florian]

Scott, thanks for the link. Seems to be dead in the water, though. The last update on it is over a year old. I wonder if they are either waiting for or intimidated by Clint Eastwood's ambitious two movie project, the "Red Sun, Black Sand" and "Flags of Our Fathers" flicks? I seriously hope they do finish the Pacific Theater series, though.

As for not liking Caesar...dang, he was nearly the best thing in it! Hinds was amazingly intelligent and cunning and brought a real humanity to the historical character. He was much more likeable than the other great version of this story by Shakespeare. The Bard paints him more as an opportunistic general who was more interested in counting his laurels than anything else. There was a bit of that with this Julius but he clearly had a plan and moved to achieve it. He was remarkable and I can't wait to see more of this actor (haven't seen "Munich" or "Miami Vice" yet).

 

[Justin Bauer]

I heard it was still going. They had been working on scripts a few months ago and I heard they were going to somehow space it after FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS. It will still be a while until it sees the light of day (probably late 2008 or early 2009).

 

[clayton b]

I don't think I've been clear enough.

When it comes to alpha male type characters, especially in an HBO series I think there is alot to live up to. HBO has set the bar so high with characters such as these with what we've seen in Deadwood with Swearengen and The Sopranos with characters like Tony Soprano and even Johnny Sack. Had this been produced by anyone other than HBO I probably wouldn't be saying this, but they've set the bar so high that I've come to expect nothing less from an HBO production in portraying a character like this.

Possibly it's because Ceasar isn't the main character, and doesn't get nearly as much screen time as Swearengen or Soprano. But after 12 episodes I never felt I knew Ceasar as well I knew the two characters I've compared him to. Ceasar never felt as human or as interesting as either of those two.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

That's the point. He's not supposed to be the main character. The story was always meant to be told through Pullo's and Verunus's eyes.

 

[Phil Florian]

Clayton, I understand what you are saying now. Sorry I didn't read it that way. And I agree with Kevin, in that Julius is seen more through the eyes of the supporting cast than through direct observation. This is truly an ensemble show, that is for sure.

I think the scale is much grander with Rome, too. Especially when compared with Sopranos. If we take one season comparisons of Al, Tony and Julius, I would see Tony having the most "personal" feel of the leads. What made him interesting was not the mob stuff or the big "F" Family stuff but instead was his relationship to the small "f" family; his wife, kids, and especially his mother. Without that, it is just another show about mobsters. Deadwood kind of stradles in between (when considering Al). Al develops a ton in Season One and the main story of the camp isn't as huge as it is in the current season. Whereas with Rome, while we have the personal bits on all the characters levels, we have a huge span of time and locations with tons of characters and literally millions of lives at stake in all of the Empire and in two continents. They found the time to give us the intimate and the personal but I think the scope and stakes were very different than the relative microcosms of Jersey and Deadwood. Just a thought.

I think it also compares more to what I consider to be HBO's crowning acheivement: Band of Brothers. We have a grunt's eye view mixed with the officer eye view of the war spanning tons of characters. Winters is essentially the "lead" but is featured in only a few episodes and is as much an ensemble player in the rest and almost background in some of the later episodes. No one character claims the lead throne.

 

[clayton b]

I also feel that the bob/Winters comparison is the most apt one. I also sort of feel that it proves my point. On it's own, Rome is a success in every way shape and form. But these HBO series have such a pedigree to live up to. In my mind there is no way that Ceasar is anywhere near as interesting as Winters.

Maybe the reason so many of the characters in Rome leave me feeling so luke warm is because they are so different from the way people are today. The characters in Rome do not seem to value human life at all. Ceasar learns of Pompey's wife dying in childbirth (his... daughter correct?) and he doesn't seem distressed, only annoyed that it makes his political position more unstable. When Pullo kills Verenus' slave in a fit of jealousy Verenus is not upset over the loss of human life but the loss of property and that his children had to witness it. That would be like if you were to smash your friend's computer or TV set. Compare that to how Swearengen reacts to Reverend Smith's death, how the camp in general reacts to William Bullock's death. Or compare that to how Tony reacted to Ralph killing the exotic dancer, or the death of Jackie Jr.

Historically accurate or not, most of the characters in Rome put little or no value on human life and that makes them more difficult for the audience to relate to them. Or more accurately it makes it more difficult for me to relate to them.

All that being said, Rome is still an outstanding series even if it doesn't fully live up to it's pedigree. Had someone like NBC produced a series of this caliber I think everyone would be raving about it.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

I'm pretty bummed after hearing they are changing actors for the role of Octavian. Keeping the same actor would have tied the second season in much better.

I thought Hinds was great as Julius. I liked how he showed mercy to those against him, on more than one ocassion. Sure, not just out of being kind to them, but also because he felt it would serve his purposes more than killing them.

 

[Nick-R]

I don't think you are supposed to get a good feel for Caesar. How could you? The guy was lightyears ahead of everybody else in terms of strategy, manipulation, reputation, etc. I think they did a good job with him because he's a hard character to read, and should be.

ex. (with a spoiler):
The discussion he had with the King and his handler. With a single remark, he requested he be paid the debt owed to him, the debt owed to Rome, forced them to admit their problems with Cleopatra, and gave himself an alibi to stick around in Alexandria for a while. Genius.

Oh, and if it seems like they had no regard for human life, that's because they didn't. They have spent a huge portion of their lives in the most brutal conditions imaginable.