H'mmm, doesn't sound very promising then. I did like the
300 but I think it depends on why. I did not care for the flying blood and silly creatures and grotesque disfigurements.
I did like the helmets, shields, spear work and some of the battle scenes, like those with the phalanx and some of the sword play (excluding the swords themselves
). The Immortals were absurd of course. So is it like a graphic Hercules or much worse?
I'm going out on a limb and say you probably won't care for it. It's mostly a campy, poorly acted, low budget CGI-fest with lots of blood. I may still watch it for all those reasons. LOL.
Here is the Wash Post review:
I girded myself to do battle with the first four episodes of "Spartacus: Blood and Sand," and I expected cheap effects and corny dialogue delivered with supercilious Shakespearean pomp by Australians I'd never heard of. I accepted my fate and prepared to die of boredom -- even though I knew Lucy Lawless is in it (Xena!) as conniving Lucretia, wife of gladiator team owner Batiatus, played by John Hannah ("The Mummy"; "Four Weddings and a Funeral").
But, oh, this Spartacus. It's deliciously, marvelously bad, and I was helpless in its grip. It's a long way from Kubrick, but what isn't?
Produced by the likes of "Spider-Man" director Sam Raimi and spun around by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" writer Steven S. DeKnight, this re-imagining of the legendary slave-turned-gladiator's epic tale has a sleazy charm that gets better with each episode.
Though it made me miss HBO's sadly short-lived "Rome" a whole lot (all those U.K. and Kiwi and Aussie accents; all those drapey gowns and leather sandals), "Spartacus" retains a strong sense of valor and suffering for a cause -- thanks mainly to Andy Whitfield's sturdy, steely performance in the title role.
It's also just about the grimiest, nastiest, bloodiest thing you could hope to find on TV on a Friday night. Limbs fly. Blood splatters everywhere. One warrior rips off the face of another and wears it as a mask to his next fight. There's lots of soft-core love scenes: Spartacus and his bride frolic around like the original "Joy of Sex" cartoon drawings. Lucretia and Batiatus have their slaves serve as marital aides.
And you can't help but laugh at the dialogue. Of course, with all these sweaty gladiators in loincloths, the whole thing can be viewed through a homoerotic prism, and "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" works extra hard to deflect that -- too hard, judging from the fact that all the men in it derisively refer to one another in epithets for a certain female body part. We get it guys, we get it. You are men and you kill.
You slay me, Spartacus, that's for sure.
