Review of Cleopatra

Cleopatra (1999)
2/10
Uninspiring Tale of Mighty Cleopatra
28 April 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Flat, uninspiring tale of one of the greatest female leaders of all time, Cleopatra. Fails to capture the magnitude of the historic Egyptian, portraying her as a seductress with a lust for power, and nothing more. Our young Cleopatra is alluring, yet she does not win us over as the manipulative Queen, or Goddess, as she prefers.

Billy Zane is the smitten Antony, spellbound by Cleopatra's charms, yet not the strong leader she needed to help her build an empire. Timothy Dalton's Julius Caesar could have been that man, had he not fallen to Brutus' conspiracy. Dalton's performance is one of the better turns on offer, though not by much.

The cheap production disappoints, and the constant British accents become very annoying in the middle east. Lacks three key ingredients for a film of this type: a grand score, sweeping cinematography and stunning sets - see "Ben Hur". Not an epic; not anything.

Saturday, August 14, 1999 - T.V.
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