A Major Disappointment

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The DVD version consists of 2 episodes, the parricide of Caesar being the juncture. In addition, the language was Spanish without subtitles. Hence, it's hard for me to review in depth this movie because because i didn't understand what was said.Cleopatra being an historic icon, the part is very difficult and i found that for a newcomer, Leonor Varela just plays fine. She is strong-willed but also a very supportive, tender soul mate. Thimothy Dalton as Caesar is perfect and their romance is the main thing of the first episode. So, it is not really a documentary, nor a peplum but a great love story.After the parricide, a new lover comes (Marc-Antoine) but the flavor is gone: we remember always our first love. So, i found the second episode dull and their tragic fate isn't told powerfully.Nonetheless, the production is luxurious: the sets are big, tastefully decorated; the Moroccan live location exotic and the wardrobes splendid. The producers have a lot of money for sure, but they spend nothing on the special effects. They are so poor (blue screens, ships, Sphinx) that it's funny.Finally, I would like very much to hear it in french or English to make a definitive opinion about this two movies.

This Halmi extravaganza actually has a very promising start with a terrific entrance by Timothy Dalton as Caesar, followed up by a memorable first meeting between him and lovely Leonor Varela as Cleo. Unfortunately it soon goes downhill from there and by the time Cleopatra has consolidated her hold on Egypt we're getting dialogue likeCaesar: "I'm sorry about your library." Cleo, (sighing like she's just scratched off a losing $1 lottery ticket): "Half of it is gone... half the world's knowledge."However if you enjoy cheesy movies with beautiful people declaiming and narrowing their eyes at each other, you could do a lot worse than Billy Zane and Timothy Dalton, who are very much "into it" and who both look breathtakingly manly draped in togas and other bedsheets. (Dalton in particular looks amazingly fit and sexy for a 53-year-old, and it's hard to imagine another actor working today who could be a more commanding Caesar.) Unfortunately Varela's acting is just terrible and, well, the script is just hopeless. It gets slightly better when the plot goes from Egypt to Rome, where everyone speaks in English accents. But none of the acting in this is exactly Oscar caliber, shall we say. Take it for what it is and dig for the guilty pleasures.

This movie was terrible. The reason I give it such a high score is because the two leads, Timothy Dalton and Billy Zane, were fantastic. Unfortunately, this movie did not keep up with them. Leonor Varela did not deserve to be in this movie. She was acting as if it were a high school play, pouting and stamping her way through the movie. She was extremely uncharismatic and did not have a sixteenth of the depth and class Taylor and Colbert did. I won't criticize the movie too much for its historical inaccuracies. One thing that did put me off was the portrayal of Octavian. He was the main antagonistic force, which he also was in the two previous versions, but in this one history is altered. Octavian was not part of the plot to assassinate Caesar and was not even in Rome when Caesar was killed. The actor who played Octavian in this version of Cleopatra, Rupert Graves, was obviously trying to copy the characterizations that Roddy McDowall, in the 1963 version of Cleopatra, gave to Octavian. He failed miserably. I've read quite a number of reviews saying that the sets and coloring were good. I personally thought that the colors were too lurid and the sets too small. However, for a TV movie budget, it did okay. My final word is that this movie is fun to watch, but don't take it too seriously.

Well, this wasn't the worst Cleopatra movie ever, but it sucks compared to the book it's based off of. "The Memiors of Cleopatra," is an incredible novel, and this missed most of it. The novel covers Cleopatra's life from the age of 9 and goes up to her last moment, but there is a lot of emotion and wonderfully historical analysis that was missed in this mini film.Also, I enjoyed the fact Cleopatra was a little less stereotypical, but stereotypical nonetheless. Cleopatra was Greek. Cleopatra was a brilliant and smart woman, who knew 9 different languages. They forgot the fact that she had 3 children with Marcus Antonius. So if you want to watch a movie on the real Cleopatra...you might want to wait until someone directs one.