Spartacus: Gods of the Arena: Blu Ray review

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena: Blu Ray review

Spartacus: Gods of The Arena
Rating: R18
Released by Madman Entertainment
The prequel to the series Spartacus: Blood and Sand sees John Hannah and our very own Lucy Lawless take centre stage in a 6 hour miniseries.
Hannah is Roman Batiatus, an ambitious man who wants his champion Gannicus to take his rightful place in the arena and earn the house the fame it deserves. But Batiatus, along with his conniving wife Lucretia (Lawless) will do anything to get there - and quite frankly, as politics and rivalries stand in the way, that's a good thing.
It leads to a heady mix of glorified violence, steamy and raunchy sex and a healthy dose of betrayal, lust and mistrust.
Spartacus Gods of the Arena has been described as a guilty pleasure and that's pretty much on the mark; the fight scenes are incredibly well choreographed and simply put, there's never been anything more brutal, more bloodspattered and more watchable on the small screen.
Hannah impresses as the lead and Lawless, along with Jaime Murray, add a level of cunning to the overall production.
If there's to be a criticism in this tale of politicking and honour among the gladiators, the series does recycle its plots a little toward the end of the run, but it's such a powerful run and a compelling pleasure, that you almost forget that.
Extras: A raft of special features with some really interesting looks at how it was all put together and the Blu Ray offers extended episodes (shame you can't watch the cut down ones as well)

Rating: 8/10