A scene from ‘Those About to Die’. | Photo credit: Peacock/YouTube
After Tudor England, Ancient Rome is another rich treasure that content creators have always seized upon. William Wyler Ben-Hur It’s kind of the gold standard. Friends turning against each other, a nobleman being condemned to be a galley slave and redeeming himself in the arena, it’s all unique. And that’s the chariot race! Eleven minutes of heart-stopping excitement, where the only sounds are the thundering hooves of the horses and the whistling of the wind as the horses and their riders take spine-tingling tight turns, never fails to thrill.
Those Who Are About to Die (Season 1)
Director: Roland Emmrich, Marco Kreuzpaintner
Mould: Anthony Hopkins, Dimitri Leonidas, Jojo Macari, Gabriela Pession, Iwan Rheon, Sara Martins, Mo Hashim, Tom Hughes
Episodes: 10
Run Time: 50 – 58 minutes
Plot: The story of the games in ancient Rome told through the eyes of the nobility and the plebeians
Master of disaster, Roland Emmerich, seems to be the man to direct this tale of games in ancient Rome. Emmerich, who has given us staggering visuals in films like Independence Day And 2012This adaptation by Daniel P. Mannix is ​​weird those who are about to dieThis book, which is supposed to be a non-fiction account of the history of the games, plays with history a little too quickly, but it’s still extremely entertaining. Incidentally, Mannix’s book was also the inspiration for Ridley Scott’s book. the GladiatorThe sequel of which is coming in November 2024 (yay).
Now that we know all the background, let’s move on those who are about to dieWhich is what gladiators said to Caesar before fighting each other to the death. To those who thought AC/DC gets full marks for their musical taste, we salute you. All this distraction and going down various pop culture rabbit holes is thanks to the all-round boringness of the show.
Emperor Vespasian (Anthony Hopkins) rules with his glowing eyes, while his sons, warrior general Titus (Tom Hughes) and politician Domitian (Jojo Macari) do the work of keeping the empire going. A grain shortage has the populace very upset, and one way to distract them is by playing games in the Colosseum.
The games have many stakeholders, from nobles to those who run the betting houses, gladiators, trainers, charioteers, physicians, stable boys and slaves. Tenax (Iwan Rheon), raised on the streets, is a master of the dirty side of the games, fixing whatever needs fixing, from games to races and annoying senators.
Anthony Hopkins in ‘Those About to Die’. | Photo Credit: Peacock/YouTube
The story has many threads. These include a royal power struggle, a battle between four charioteer factions, which Tenax has stirred up controversy by starting a fifth faction with the star charioteer Scorpus (Dimitri Leonidas). Numidian Calla (Sara Martins-Court) works with Tenax to free her daughters Zula (Alicia Edogamhe) and Aura (Keeshan Wilson), who have been sold as slaves.
Zula is a slave in the home of Marsus (Rupert Penry-Jones), the leader of the Blue faction, and his wife Antonia (Gabriella Pacian) and Tenex get a chance to do some spying. Calla’s son, Kwame (Mo Hashim), is sold as a gladiator, and we get to see a day in the life of a gladiator, including exchanging sentimental stories of home with Celie, Viggo (Johannes Haukur Johansson), and playing David to the Goliath-sized gladiator, Flamma (Martin Ford).
Also read:‘Gladiator 2’ trailer: Paul Mescal carries forward the legacy of Maximus in Ridley Scott’s epic sequel
Everyone does their evil and pointless tricks, while they speak dialogue that is even more wooden than the swords. There is a lot of unnecessary sex and bloodshed – an example of this is the famous “marked man” search that takes place in a brothel where various moaning couples are stared at. One is willing to forget the cardboard characters, the historical inaccuracies, the terrible acting (poor Anthony Hopkins!) and the planet-sized plot holes, if only Emmerich had given us breathtaking spectacle – we are not that different from our Latin counterparts, with our craving for bread and circuses!
Unfortunately, the games are mind-numbing, the chariot races and gladiator fights monotonously repetitive. By the climax with the flooding of the amphitheatre and the release of crocodiles to attack the disloyal senators, one becomes weary and uninteresting, and even the sad hippopotamus grunting in his cell does not create any ripple of interest.
‘Those About to Die’ is streaming on Amazon Prime Video
