3/5 If you take out all the pointless sex scenes - it is brilliant!
  by Nikki D. (Ocala, FL, USA)
Many of the reviews have discussed the historical inaccuracies in the series and to be certain they are numerous (better to serve the soap opera feel of the series) but there are equally as many historical accuracies which I appreciated. I love history done well and this series is done to the nines.
I especially enjoyed the productions values, the sets were magnificent done to excruciating detail. I love the low lighting in the insulae and villas at night. I adore the dirty streets in the pleb areas of the city contrasted with the noble areas of the city. I love all the food, furniture, jewelry, dress - much of it is superb (though the false eyelashes on some of the actresses are a bit much).

I had a hard time with the brutality of the female characters and in general how most of them were treated. I understand that Rome was not known for treating its women well but this series focuses a great deal on the brutalization of women, specifically sexually depicting them as violent harpies, conniving killers and nymphomaniacs. I've no doubt this was something that could have existed in these times but to use historical characters as a blank slate to really add some hefty T&A and misogyny was not something I enjoyed. Women are raped, brutally murdered, many walking around as half-naked whores and I lost count as to how many fine British actresses were humiliated sexually by being banged within an inch of their lives in an exceedingly graphic fashion. For sure none of their real-life family members could have watched this series and it was gratuitous in every sense of the word. I often felt that the writers ignored some very exciting points in history (and frankly it's not like they didn't have a ton to work with, this was an extraordinary time) just to add more rape and sex scenes and more humiliation of women.

The sex scenes could have been done better. We didn't need to see full frontal male and female nudity to get the point. Though frankly as a woman it was nice to see the men being objectified as well though the men fare far better since they are always in positions of power (which they were in Rome and in our times too) but since this is a fictional accounting, it could have been more evenhanded.

The bloody violence is fairly cartoonish - the blood often looks like paint and the decapitations are laughable, I have a feeling that HBO blew most of its budget on the giant outdoor sets and left a pittance to the special effects crew and it shows.

It is difficult to like most of the characters except for Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo who are the regular guy soldier characters who become lifelong friends and they too are somewhat reprehensible.

(SPOILERS):

Titus Pullo murders the lover of his slave and then she decides to marry him. Titus also fathers a love child with Cleopatra which she claims to be Julius Caesar's son. Pullo also murders for hire then gets thrown into the arena for killing a prominent citizen and manages (with the help of his loyal friend Vorenus) to kill everyone. Eventually (in season two) Pullo murders Cicero (he is ordered to do so by Caesar Octavian) cuts off his hands and nails them to the senate front door then chokes to death his lover Gaia whom had previously murdered his wife (he actually cheated on his wife with Gaia, not cool) after she confesses her deed to him following her saving his life. And this is one of the guys you are rooting for!

Lucius Vorenus is loyal in a way no other character in the series is. His big mistakes come in the second season when he forsakes Caesar (which allows the Senators access to him to commit their murder) after he discovers that the four year old son he believes is his daughters as claimed but is his wife's with another man (her sister's husband as a matter of fact and Titus Pullo killed this guy too!). He confronts his wife with murderous intent and she throws herself off a balcony, killing herself. Vorenus children believe that he has murdered their mother but he curses them all then runs away, meanwhile the children are abducted and sold into slavery. When Vorenus tries to find them he cannot, but finds the man who abducted them who claims to have raped them all and killed them and thrown them into the Tiber. Vorenus cuts his head off. Eventually Pullo finds out the children are not dead but his poor eldest daughter had been forced into prostitution and they are all slaves. The younger girl and boy fare better. Vorenus becomes a somewhat ruthless gang leader meanwhile but then gives it all up to be at Mark Antony's side when he is banished to Egypt. Vorenus is the only character with a moral compass, he feels emotions deeply, he is loyal and the relationship between he and Pullo is the most touching in the series.

Both characters are masterfully acted by Ray Stevenson (as Pullo) and Kevin McKidd (as Vorenus). They add a common-man element to the series that really hits home. You see how the real citizens of Rome lived, what their lives were like, their relationships, how they were as parents, husbands and wives, lovers, business owners etc. They do this part well too so that it contrasts with the nobility and everyone is allowed their dignity (except the women).

The female characters are all villains except for Vorenus's wife Niobe. When she had her one indiscretion it was because she thought her husband was dead after not seeing him in 8 years (he was fighting with Caesar in Gaul) otherwise she was a loving wife and superb mother. I was sad to see her go in the second season and felt it was a cheap shot.

Atia of the Julii (Caesar Octavian's mother) is well played considering her caricature of a character. She's supposed to be vile and evil and she is, though nothing historically would point to this. She is rather attractive and you get to see ALL of her as you do just about every actress in the series. I thought she was a better actress than having to sink to those lows but perhaps she wanted to show off her obviously fake breasts and hoped that would turn into something more lucrative since the actress Polly Walker is in her early forties and her career is be winding down.

Lindsay Duncan plays Brutus's mother Servilia an acknowledged lover of Julius Caesar. She begins the series as a very dignified character but then becomes a seducing lesbian (to Atia's daughter Octavia), masterminds much of the plot to kill Julius Caesar after he dumps her, then goes after Atia like the harpy from hell when Atia's men attack her and strip her naked (nothing against the actress but she is nearly 60 years old and seeing this done to a woman of advanced years is quite troubling and humiliating) in the street, then eventually she is abducted by Atia, brutally raped, beaten within an inch of her life (after a poisoning plot was discovered leading back to her)and she eventually goes mad in the second season after Brutus's death in Greece (leading an army with Cassius against Caesar Octavian). She and her closest slave commit suicide on Atia's doorstep. It was hard to like her really but worse to see such awful things happen to Brutus's mother. There is no historical fact to any of this either.

James Purefoy plays the dog Mark Antony who is a vulgar, piggish psychotic murdering bastard and doesn't show an ounce of humanity until he falls in love with Cleopatra and that seems to have been very drug-addled no less. As far as tit-for-tat (excuse the pun) you get to see all of splendid James Purefoy too and that man has nothing to be ashamed of, though he gets a little chubbier in the second season. Purefoy is a superb actor and manages to make Antony's downfall and suicide quite moving.

The best acting and characterization in the series is Ciarin Hinds who plays Julius Caesar. His Caesar is intelligent, a military genius, elegant, emotional and played somewhat morally too. This depiction makes his horrific murder all the more stunning because you get to see Caesar as a man and not just a commander. He truly loved Servilia though he was honor bound to give his all for the Republic. He was a man of the people and was fair and showed mercy when others would not have. He wept when the head of his defeated friend Pompey was brought to him. The way he is played here shows a man of honor in many cases even his despair regarding the death of his daughter Julia in childbirth. The emotions that play on Ciarin Hinds face are brilliant not to mention that he is particularly handsome and looks very much like many of the busts of Caesar from his own time-period. It is disturbing to watch his murder because the changes that he brought to the Empire were actually very good for the people.

Finally the actress (Lyndsey Marshal) who portrays Cleopatra is deeply out of her league. She is not beautiful by any stretch of imagination (though supposedly the historic Cleopatra was not either) and does not look vaguely Egyptian if her life depended on it (though I know Cleopatra actually was NOT Egyptian but Macedonian, she wanted to look as much so as possible and this girl is a pale comparison). She looks British (as many of the actors in the series do), has zero charisma and not a regal bearing at all. You could not imagine a common soldier giving his life for her let alone these men of considerable power. She also has a very squeaky, nasally voice that is considerably annoying. She spends most her time in filmy see-through dresses getting her brains banged out by various men. This is a perfect waste of a compelling female character.

Openly gay actor Simon Woods plays Caesar Octavian as a bit of a poof which doesn't jibe well with the historical figure (though it was rumored that he was a lover of Julius Caesar though there is no historical fact to this that I know of) as well as he has a very odd S & M relationship with his wife (and they would know this how?) and in his youth had slept with his own sister Octavia (she seduced him by recommendation of Servilia who was looking to get information on Caesar from the youth). That entire thread in the story was positively ghastly.

I'll save my comments for the second season regarding the rutting and repulsiveness of the sexuality depicted but it is enough to know that there are numerous rapes, children used sexually (of both sexes) though mercifully this is only discussed not shown, prostitutes being defiled in all manner of ways (again both male and female), gratuitous nudity, much graphically simulated sex and women being degraded at every turn. It is a shame to see the actresses here serving as prostitutes of a sort in this modern day and age. I wish this series had a little more dignity and a little less misogyny.





5/5 ROME SEASON 1 DVD
  by ramon perez
ITEM JUST AS DESCRIBED ! FAST AND FRIENDLY ! A REAL PLEASURE ... THANK YOU !

5/5 Just LOOK at the amount of Positive Review's! ROME - UNBELIVEABLE!
  by eezavel (OH)
There is NO doubt this series ROME is ABSOLUTLEY UN-BELIVEABLY AWESOME!
Sadly, there are only two Season's (I wish they would have continued!)
If you love all things Rome - You will LOVE Season One and Two of HBO's series ROME!
I can't say enough GREAT things about this show!!
The hundred's of satisfied review's say it all!

5/5 Don't neglect to watch the "making of" section of this DVD set
  by jannert (Hamilton Scotland)
It is impossible for me to find fault with this superb series on DVD. I totally agree with the positive comments made by other reviewers. I also feel it is necessary to recommend that everybody watch disk 6 (the 'features' disk) as well as the 12 episodes themselves.

Far more than just a 'making of' disk, the information contained in disk 6 would answer many of the negative points raised by some reviewers, either about the excessive violence and sex, or the supposed historical 'inaccuracies' contained in Rome. Indeed, this appears to be the most historically accurate film version ever made of this period. Plot and character development aside, the painstaking attention to detail paid to the sets themselves to the costumes, props and Roman social relationships is worthy of any award going.

The fact that Rome was filmed in Italy, using real Roman people as extras, Italian craftspeople creating the look and feel of the series, helps to bridge the gap between the Rome of 'then' and 'now.' Rome has been a continuously inhabited city since it was first built, and the people living there now are descendants of the original Romans. No other series about Rome has ever captured this 'feel' of continuity. It certainly feels right.

I hope people watch this, and the subsequent second and final series with an open mind, aware that Julius Caesar lived before Christianity, that the Christian model of sexual morality simply didn't exist for Romans, and that they took and retained their empire with extreme violence. Love, peace and mercy were NOT Roman virtues, and are consequently in short supply as portrayed by this series. However, the characters are totally and recognizably human, and you find yourself caring deeply for many of them. Ciaran Hinds' Caesar may well be a masterclass in acting. You never know for certain what Caesar is thinking, or what his personal goals truly are. Not even after he is dead. This makes the twists and turns of his story - the ending of which we all know beforehand - most absorbing.

Rome is a fantastic series. Please do yourself a favor and buy this set of DVDs, and order Series 2 as well. You will certainly want to know what happens next!

5/5 A very believable depiction, intricate script, good actors.
  by Igor Lurye (USA)
To give it a 4 star rating would be a rather dry response to the entertainment provided. The job is very well done i have to say.

First of all, this to me is the most believable depiction of Rome I have seen up to this date - I mean, obviously Ceasar et al did not sound like they are reading a Shakespearean tragedy? Plus, there were other things, more mundane things that were there, sexuality and debouchery that no previous version was brave enough to depict. This one has.

Than, there s also intricacy of the plot - Lucius Vorenus is not at all a happy camper, which I think resonates with the truth about the soldier of that period and that place. He is a pagan, devoted to his superiors more than the gods who he questions on the daily basis. Nevertheless, a few dramatic transformations of character are in store for those who choose to watch this.

As you probably noticed, i have not revealed the actual plot of this series, so I hope you enjoy it as I had, and perhaps even comment whether you agree or disagree with this perspective.