Spartacus: Blood and Sand is a classic TV series. Killing, blood, lust, intrigue, oppression, resistance and so on, the legend of the gladiator incorporates too many rich elements.
The filming of this sequel was hampered by the cancer of the male protagonist Andy Whitfield. After months of waiting, the writers finally gave us a satisfactory answer: the prequel Spartacus: The God of the Arena. At first, I thought it might be a simple transition episode with no fancy heads, but after watching all 6 episodes, I realized I was wrong. It's an equally excellent work, evocative, no less than Blood and Sand.
Let's take a look at the whole first.
In fact, the attraction of the Spartacus series of works lies not only in fighting, bloodshed, lust and pornography, but also in the conspiracies and battles of the nobles for profit, the spirit of the gladiator slaves to survive and for freedom, etc., which are the characteristics of this drama.
The production style of "God of the Arena" is more realistic, the plot focuses on the struggle history of the Batitas family, and will continue to stage a "palace fight" like a political struggle for the audience, of course, an ancient version. Since the plot is a prequel story before Spartacus came to Capua, Kress was just a "rookie" at the time, and the number one seed player of the "club", Gunnix, is a "romantic" "player", so the gladiatorial scenes in the whole play are very "romantic", bringing a different freshness to the audience.
In addition, the director of "God of the Arena" has evolved from the three directors of "Blood and Sand" to Michael Hurst alone, but his style is more prominent, so the style of the whole show is more unified. Almost every episode of the show shows the stark contrast between the two scenes at the same time, which is shocking and thought-provoking.
What to ponder? The first is the situation of the slaves, that is, the gladiators.
From the grandeur and grandeur of the ruins of Rome's existing gladiatorial arenas, we can imagine how enthusiastic the Romans were for this entertainment when slaves were purchased, entered the training ground and dueled through tests. In the play, the slaves, through their own efforts, become a real gladiator, with a big "b" on their backs, becoming a member of the Batitas family, and competing for their own honor in the gladiatorial arena.
Of course, these are just wishful thinking of gladiators.
For honor? Onomamos has been stressing to Spartacus in the midst of blood and sand that you are first a slave and then a gladiator. Yes, even if you win the honor, if it weren't for the infighting between the powerful, Gannix wouldn't have been free. Gladiator owners are willing to pay to buy them and train them, and the end result is to have them race in the bloody arena and become champions, earning honors, cheers and titles of champions. Of course, this brought face and money to the owner.
For blood? In addition to honor, more blood, the red ink of this drama is estimated to have cost a lot. The bloody battle brought a frenzied cheer to every spectator, striking at the most primitive bestiality and cruelty in human nature. In the struggle of strength and muscle, the burning soul lives in bright red blood.
For love? Both God of the Arena and Blood and Sand are equipped with emotional arcades to help unfold the plot. At the same time, the addition of the word "love" also makes the protagonist's story less monotonous, and the audience's experience of watching the episode is greatly improved. In addition to the "brotherly love" in the series, the initial focus of the show was Kress. However, Gannix's "ambiguous" love affair with the "Black Cult" wife ends with the death of the elder Batitas and melita's poisoning, which makes the audience begin to feel a little regretful about the relationship. But the story is over, condensed into one sentence: Fight for her! Blood and Sand is primarily about Spartacus, but it's also accompanied by various conflicts and disputes over the love triangle between Kress and the mistress Ludia, the maid Navi, and so on, not to mention that Spartacus fights for his beloved Sura, verro fights for his wife and children.
For freedom? For slaves, freedom was a luxury that could be found but not sought. But because of Gunnix's precedent, every gladiator hopes to eventually regain his freedom. After all, no one wants to be a slave for a lifetime, wandering on the brink of death. Baka dies for freedom, is framed by Ashur, who is raised by Gou Niang, and finally the murdered Petros is heartbroken and hangs himself. However, he was not killed by Onomamos, but survived by hiding in the pile of the dead; thankfully, Kress finally woke up and decided to join Spartacus and start a revolutionary uprising.
I have to say that this is a TV series that portrays human nature into the wood.
The character settings of the Spartacus series are excellent. The behavior of each character can be explained by his value orientation and personality, and each character is vivid and lively. Batitas, the owner of the "club" in Blood and Sand, is sinister and decisive, never dragging his feet; his wife, Ludia, the "boss lady" behind the scenes, is fierce and scheming, but loyal to his family; and the tough Kress, the cunning Ashur, the decent Onomamos and the treacherous Solonius are all characters with distinct personalities. In addition to retaining these characters, God of the Arena adds glamorous socialite Gaia, conservative "club" former owner Titus, and the show's most important romantic gladiator, Gunnix. The characters are richer and the plot development is more exciting.
The conflict between several groups of characters is the fuel for the show and an important driving force for the development of the entire plot:
1. Batitas, Rudia and Titus. The choice of feelings and interests between father and son, husband and wife, father-in-law and daughter-in-law;
2. Gannix, Onomamos and Melita. Love between husband and wife, between men and women, and the torment of brotherhood, morality and emotion are inevitable;
3. A big battle between three people. A battle between the small clubs of Batitas, Solonius and the deep-rooted Tullius club group.
Next, let's talk about the character of Spartacus, the protagonist.
After watching "Blood and Sand", I wondered, if the big framework of this TV series really went out of Batitas's training ground and changed from the second season to a war TV series, then what does it mean and how to shoot it. Looking at "Blood and Sand" from beginning to end, it is not difficult to find that the screenwriting team of the show is not good at looking at the problem from the perspective of the general direction narrative. They like to accumulate slowly and then make a wave of outbursts in a relatively narrow interpersonal range.
Starz's handling of war scenes is also unsatisfactory. Basically, it's about injecting blood into close-up shots to render the atmosphere. If the rebels were still filmed like this early in the second season when they clashed directly with the Roman Legion, it would really match the war scenes in the domestic TV series – long-range cg + close-ups, haha.
After Blood and Sand, many people commented that after adding some of the characteristics of the character of Spartacus, the protagonist Andy was not cute, even disgusting. In the portrayal of the protagonist, the creation of "Blood and Sand" is undoubtedly quite a failure, he just portrays a slave hero as an executioner, everything rises because of him, and he destroys all good things at that time. All the disasters were caused by him, and all the flesh-and-blood characters that the audience liked were destined to die for him.
So what do the audience really like? Flesh and blood, violence and extravagance, full of temptations for women... And men, and small struggles and small pursuits belonging to every class, and Spartacus was sent by the director's team to destroy it all.
Batitas, on the other hand, is a very good villain.
In the first season, Batitas, the down-to-earth villain boss, gained unusually high popularity. People like this guy who looks ordinary but has the ambition and courage to start a career in a world where the weak prey on the jungle. Step by step, he stepped on every stumbling block, and a glimmer of light slowly appeared in his life. As a result, under Spartacus's sword, everything came to an abrupt halt. When he fell into the pool at the end of the first part, the unwilling look in his eyes deeply touched my heart. I don't think the writers wanted us to think that his death was the result of his own evil, but rather a regret for his ambitions. Without Spartacus, Batitas' story would be even better.
Maybe the writers heard the crowd too. At the beginning of this prequel, With Batitas containing too many eyes as a guide, slowly, nuancedly, tells the first history of his unfinished struggle. I have to praise John Hanna's acting skills here, he played the role of Batitas very well: the young Batitas on that humble little stage, with young, passionate, hopeful and ambitious eyes, looking forward to his future, less deep and evil in "Blood and Sand".
Overall, Spartacus: God of the Arena is a very good work, although it is only a prequel, but he added more wonderful elements to the basis of the canon, so that the work itself has its own characteristics while completing the task (telling some plots that are not in the canon), and it is recommended that friends who like the "Spartacus" series do not miss it!