AnotherRandomReviewer

Many do not get it. This was never supposed to be an action film or a typical war film. The exact details about how the conflict came about do not matter, nor do the allegiances of the warring factions.

No, this film is a klaxon alarm warning for those in America who think of their fellow citizens as enemies with whom they cannot ever compromise with. Does this sound familiar to you?

The point is that civil war has a good chance of breaking unless America changes its course and does something to reduce the ever rising heat of polarisation in the country. And if a civil war does break out, you WILL see horrible scenes like in this movie for real. Do you like what you see? Does any of it look like a desirable result?

The President in this movie gives you a clue about what triggered the war. He is a third term President, something that isn't possible without trampling all over the Constitution. Many people would object to this, and violence could easily break out.

This is just a movie, but in the USA right now you have Trump who has already tried to overthrow the current US government on Jan 6, 2020, and is fully prepared to do so again should he lose the next election.

Many of his MAGA followers have openly expressed their willingness to wage civil war against all those they judge as being the 'right type' of Americans. If you watch the movie, you'll see how this sort of thinking will play out.

Alex Garland could see what is developing in the USA with the rise of fascist Trump and he was doing his best in this movie to show Americans what will happen to their country if they don't soundly reject people like Trump and others who call for violence.

And to be fair, the same warning goes for people who were saying they would have been OK if Trump got assassinated. This sort of political violence will lead the country into disaster.

All calls for violence to decide who runs America instead of elections must end. And whoever rules must respect the laws and Constitution, instead of saying that they should be immune to prosecution for crimes they commit. Anyone who needs that sort of protection should never be President.

So it's in the context of the very real current American political scene that is how this film should be viewed. The journalists in the film are like the people in the rest of the world, watching as America tears itself apart and destroys itself in a way that no outside enemy could ever do.

So if you watch this film, don't get hung up on the details. Look at the horrors being shown and the downfall of America. This is what the film is warning about. If there is any additional artistry in film-making then that's just a bonus.

But if you're an American and you aren't terrified about what the film is showing, then you better start paying attention to what is going on.

It would be hard to effectively convey just how terrible this show is. I lasted six full episodes before wanting to get eaten by a lion rather than watch more.

Let's get one thing out of the way. There has been a lot of talk about how bad the CGI is in the series.. Trust me, it's not the CGI that is wrecking the show.

Of course it is going to have CGI because they aren't going to rebuild ancient Rome with sets, but for the most part isn't that bad. This a red herring in reviews. If the show was good, people won't care all that much about if the CGI is dodgy at times.

The problem is pretty much everything else isn't good. I'm struggling to come up with something I liked. But there's not much besides terrible, terrible acting and incompetently choreographed fights, stupid plotting, poorly written characters, etc.

It's shocking how bad it all is, especially the representation of gay characters in this show. It seems someone obviously hates gay men in particular if you see how one of the Emperor's sons is presented.

I love shows and movies about ancient Rome. Even if the production isn't top notch I'm always inclined to cut them some slack, but seeing this and then comparing it the the series Spartacus makes me ball my fists in frustration. How can they screw it up this badly?

Two stars, because the shots of Rome are cool, and they touched on something so rarely seen in shows about Rome, the chariot races, which were far bigger attractions in their day than the gladiator fights. The rest of the show should be buried by Mt. Vesuvius' ashes.

I don't usually give such a low rating because I always try to be balanced when I assess a movie. Too many people give 0/10 or 10/10 for films with no in between when usually nothing is that bad or good. But this film richly deserves to be completely panned.

I don't blame the actors or the stunt people (who do top notch work here) but the writers and producers. This is film is cosmically stupid.

There is so little resemblance to anything like reality in this movie that it might well have been a cartoon, and even that would be an insult to cartoons. No intelligence agency would do anything like in this movie. It's like they asked a 5-year old what they thought spies do and then filmed that.

For example, the major action scene in the film where the agency chasing the hero stages an all out attack that kills dozens of police officers in an allied country. This would cause a diplomatic break between the USA and the ally and would be worldwide news. But it is shrugged off as just a mess that the agency will have to sweep under the rug.

Anyways, you might as well watch random stunt scenes from random movies and guess what? You'd still end up with something more entertaining that made more sense than this abomination.