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Spartacus : Vengeance (+ Blood & Sand + Gods of The Arena)

Written by Jason Loo

Tuesday, 13 March 2012 14:58

spartacus_vengeance_cast

SparV as i like to call it, is the official second season of Spartacus. Before i even begin, I am warning fellow viewers out there that this show features plenty of violence, sex and mayhem beset by dirty politics, harsh languages, gay and lesbianism, as well as raw nudity.

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That of course have not stopped viewers from liking the story of Spartacus who led the slaves revolt against Rome. For refresher, Spartacus's Season 1 : Blood and Sand introduced us to the characters of Spartacus (played by recently deceased Andy Whitfield), Crixus (Manu Bennett), Oenomaus (Peter Mensah) and the tragic house of Batiatus. It highlighted how Spartacus and his wife, Sura was captured by Gaius Claudius Glaber (Craig Parker), a Roman military commander after a mutiny that resulted in the extermination of Spartacus's village.

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After being captured, Sura is forced into slavery and Spartacus is taken to the arena to participate as a gladiator and was expected to die. However, he manages to survive spectacularly and is taken in by Lentulus Batiatus (played magnificiently by John Hannah) and his wife Lucretia (Lucy Lawless of Xena Warrior Princess fame), who owns and operates a school of gladiators called a ludus.

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Harboring hopes of seeing his wife alive again and spurred by promises from Batiatus, Spartacus wins match after match against gladiators, even that of his own best friend, Varro.

In the end, he discovers the truth which enrages and encourages his motivation to stage a revolt against the house of Batiatus and cleanse it of all evil. Safe to say, the characters who deserved to die was laid off at the end of Season 1.

After Season 1, the prequel to Spartacus was introduced and the mini-series was titled Gods of the Arena (GOTA). In this series, we see the champion gladiator, Gannicus and the still raw but spirited Crixus along with Oenomaus in his former glory days.

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In GOTA, the mini-series shows us how Oenomaus retires from the arena and officially becoming a Doctore to train other gladiators for Batiatus. It also chronicles how Crixus slowly but surely becomes the champion of Capua and gains the favor of Lucretia, the domina of the house of Batiatus.

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Finally, we find out how Gannicus becomes the gladiator who earns his ultimate freedom in the arena and his relationship with Oenomaus's wife, Melitta (Marisa Ramirez).

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Moving on to the current Season 2 : Vengeance, it focuses on the anger and rage of the slaves led by Spartacus (previously played by Andy Whitfield, replaced with Liam McIntyre) and Crixus.

The first few episodes of the season tells us how Glaber and his wife Ilithyia (played by Viva Bianca) discovers the surviving member of house Batiatus, Lucretia. She is apparently saved by Ashur the Syrian who will play a vital role in the Roman's surge to find and kill Spartacus.

Spartacus also have a handful to deal with in the form of the Gauls led by Crixus and in the search for Naevia, Crixus lover who was condemned to sex slavery by Batiatus to his friends to gain favor and influence. Crixus manages to find Naevia in the end but the memories of her experience prevents Naevia from being intimate with Crixus.

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Gannicus also reappears to fight with Oenomaus in a match that burns down the arena in Capua. Glaber becomes more ruthless at this point and goes all out to hunt down Spartacus. This is illustrated in Glaber's willingness to kill his father-in-law and Seppius who holds soldiers that Glaber wants to unite.

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At this point of my review, it is only up to episode 6. If you are interested by now in the storyline, watch the rest of Spartacus : Vengeance in upcoming episodes.

Rating : 8 / 10 - awesome, raw scenes of carnage and violence, and en evolving storyline which is as good and engaging as the first season. Even though Andy Whitfield is no longer alive, his legacy lives on with Liam McIntyre with a solid potrayal of Spartacus in Vengeance.

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Cast :
Manu Bennett ... Crixus
Lucy Lawless ... Lucretia
Peter Mensah ... Doctore
Nick Tarabay ... Ashur |
Viva Bianca ... Ilithyia
Daniel Feuerriegel ... Agron
Andy Whitfield ... Spartacus
John Hannah ... Batiatus
Katrina Law ... Mira
Craig Parker ... Glaber
Lesley-Ann Brandt ... Naevia
Jai Courtney ... Varro
Ioane King ... Rhaskos
Liam McIntyre ... Spartacus
Siaosi Fonua ... Hamilcar
David Austin ... Medicus

References :
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1442449/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartacus:_Vengeance
http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Spartacus-Vengeance-Review-Let-Slave-War-Begin-38992.html
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117946871

Last Updated on Tuesday, 13 March 2012 15:18

Movie Review - Mission Impossible 4

Written by Jason Loo

Wednesday, 07 March 2012 15:12

MI-GhostProtocol

Well, i guess a lot of people would have caught this movie during the Xmas season last year. Just watched it and for those who haven't watched it, here's the review...

The movie begins innocently enough like any MI episode. The starting scene routes around Budapest where agent Hanaway (Josh Holloway from tv series Lost) is escaping from a bunch of bad guys, carrying a particularly interesting courier brief wanted by Cobalt, the lead bad guy. However, agent Hanaway is killed by an assassin Sabine Moreau and the courier package is taken by the hot assassin. The leader of Hanaway's team turns out to be Agent Carter who seemingly has some romantic ties with Hanaway.

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The scene then switches over to a prison in Russia with a riot instigated by the IMF team comprised of Agent Carter (Paula Patton, who reminds me of Jennifer Garner) and Agent Benji (Simon Pegg, most notable from Shaun of the Dead).

The rescue operation is intended for one person, which you would have guessed by now ... yes. that's right ... Mr. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), the ever-living super-agent-who-cannot-die-and-perform-death-defying-feats. In the course of the breakout, Ethan goes back into the prison to rescue another inmate, Bogdan who helped him before.

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After the rescue, Ethan learns that he's been recruited to lead the IMF team to infiltrate the Kremlin in order to obtain secret files identifying Cobalt. In the midst of the mission, Ethan learns there's another party in the Kremlin intending to grab the secret files as well. He later realizes its Cobalt when he passes him in the Kremlin hallway while escaping. Ethan manages to escape outside the Kremlin. However moments later, a huge bomb explodes destroying part of the Kremlin and also causes Ethan Hunt to be injured.

Ethan wakes up in the hospital, handcuffed to a gurney and learns that he's the primary suspect in the bombing. The Russian detective, Sidorov tries to arrest Ethan but he manages to escape as well.

Ethan then meets up with the American contact while on the run. The American contact turns out to be the US Secterary of Defense on his trip to receive an award in Russia. Ethan learns that the US President has declared Ghost Protocol on the IMF, disavowing them from any official connection to the US. The SecDef is also accompanied by an analyst, William Brandt. Ethan manages to identify Cobalt with Brandt's help and Cobalt is exposed as Kurt Hendricks, a mad scientist who think global nuclear holocaust will be a good thing. The SecDef is later killed by assassins but Ethan and Brandt escapes the slaughter in Russia.

Ethan also learns that Cobalt bombed the Kremlin to obtain a nuclear launch control device which Cobalt manages to get. However, in order to launch, Cobalt must get the activation codes from Sabine Moreau. The exchange between Cobalt and Sabine is set in Dubai, at the current tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. The scene in Dubai proves to be the most exhilirating one, similar to the pendulum swing scene in MI3. Suffice to say, there's a lot of action and death in the building scene. I would not spoil it with too many descriptions so the synopsis is that Sabine gets what she deserves and there's more than meets the eye.

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However, Cobalt manages to escape the Burj with Ethan hot on his tail. Brandt later reveals a secret on how he was in charge of Ethan and his wife, Julia before Julia was taken and murdered by a Serbian hit squad.

The final action scene of the movie takes place in the city of Mumbai where Cobalt 'borrows' a satellite to activate the Russian nuclear missiles. He manages to release the missile into atmosphere but is killed by Ethan and the IMF team is able to deactivate the nuclear warhead at the end....

That's not the end of the movie though. The last scene involves a homecoming gathering of sorts for the new IMF team where Ethan then hands each one of them their new assignments. Ethan also manages to look at Julia, his 'dead' wife and vice versa.

Take note that this movie was directed by Brad Bird whose particular achievements were mainly on animated movies such as the Incredibles and Iron Giant. So. kudos to him on a rather acceptable MI movie.