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The author of this article is the contributor @Hormone ghosts live in the movie, which makes people feel at ease

Among film and television themes, "Ancient Rome" can be described as a rich mine of stories.

Brutal wars, legendary figures, dark power struggles, bloodthirsty gladiatorial arenas... these elements are full of dramatic tension and repeatedly tease the creators' nerves.

Since the new century alone, there have been the movie "Gladiator", the American TV series "Rome" series and the "Spartacus" series, all of which are high-scoring masterpieces on the ancient Roman theme.

Near the end of July, another epic drama about ancient Rome, "The Dying Man", was launched on Peacock (a streaming media jointly created by NBC and Universal Pictures in the United States).

The series is co-directed by famous disaster film director Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow, 2012) and German director Marco Kreuzpaintner (Innocent Murder: The Case of Collini), with the script written by Robert Rodat, the screenwriter of Saving Private Ryan, and the starring role is the 87-year-old Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins.

The drama is based on the novel of the same name by American writer Daniel P. Mannix. The story is set in 79 AD, the last year of the life of Vespasian, the ninth emperor of the Roman Empire.

The title of the play "The Dying Man" has two meanings.

One refers to the aging Emperor Vespasian (Hopkins), who is about to die and will plunge Rome into a power struggle because of him.

The second refers to the gladiators in ancient Rome. Legend has it that when gladiators entered the arena, they would shout "Hail Caesar! The dying man salutes you" to pay tribute to Caesar the Great (100 BC to 44 BC).

This sentence later developed into a fixed tribute expression. In the British TV series "Miss Marple Mysteries", which was adapted from Agatha Christie's original work, some people used it to express their respect for the detective protagonist.

"The Dying Man" unfolds N narrative lines at the beginning.

The first line was that Vespasian's two sons secretly fought for the right of succession; the second line was that various factions of Roman nobles coveted the kingship, especially the Blue Faction led by Consul Marsus.

The third plot is about a casino owner named Tanakos (Iwan Rheon) who started from poverty and tried to change his class. The fourth plot is about a civilian family from outside the Great Wall being brought into Rome and starting their gladiator career...

The chaotic narrative, densely packed characters, and hard-to-remember names mean that even with a famous director and movie stars, the show is unable to provide a clear, engaging plot and emotions.

The so-called grand visual effects that seemed a bit plastic and the action scenes in the sequel caused the reputation of the show to further collapse, which was in stark contrast to the high-profile publicity before the broadcast and the high expectations of the audience.

In the end, the Rotten Tomatoes freshness rating was 56%, the popcorn index was 57%, the MTC expert rating was 49, the audience rating was 3.9, and the IMDb rating was slightly higher, with a score of 6.3, which was just enough to pass.

The Los Angeles Times bluntly stated that the show crudely "remixed" history, and the visual effects were like a video game;

Time magazine criticized the so-called $150 million "sports drama" for being soapy, formulaic, and uncompetitive among similar works.

Emmerich, the famous disaster film director, proved his ability to handle costume themes with "Anonymous", a film about the British Tudor Dynasty, ten years ago.

But unfortunately, in "The Dying Man", he seemed to be at a loss as to what to do and could only piece together visual scenes and plot segments from other classic films and TV series.

Anonymous (2011)

For example, the erotic brothels and the second prince Domitian's homosexual orientation in the play easily remind people of "Game of Thrones"; the venue style of the Roman Colosseum is exactly the same as the arena in the "Game of Thrones" spin-off "House of the Dragon".

"The Dying Man" also has many similarities with the HBO drama "Roma" (2005) 19 years ago, but the quality of the two is very different, such as the "selling horse" plot.

The "selling of horses" in "The Dying Man" is very bland, without any contradictions or conflicts, and is inconsistent with historical facts.

In the play, the Spaniards sold "Al-Andalus stallions" to the Romans, but in 79 AD there was no such thing as "Al-Andalus". This place name did not appear until more than 600 years later.

In "Rome", the horse was sold to Caesar's niece Atia, who asked her son Octavian to give the horse to Caesar. Coincidentally, the horse was Pompeii's favorite.

A simple "selling horse" plot not only shows the seemingly close but actually hostile relationship between Caesar and Pompey, but also reveals the scheming of the noble woman Atiya.

Compared to the chaos, collage and suspension of "The Dying Man", "Roma" focuses on the power struggle between Caesar and Pompeii. Not only is the narrative concise and efficient, but the characterization of the characters is also very accurate.

For example, after Pompeii's wife passed away, Caesar asked Atia to choose a wife for Pompeii. Atia forced her daughter to divorce and then gave her to Pompeii. But the plot took a turn and the bride at Pompeii's wedding was not Atia's young daughter, but an old woman.

Caesar gave his wife to Pompey, which was a superficial concern for him. Pompey verbally agreed to Caesar's marriage, but then married someone else, proving that he did not want to be controlled by Caesar. The power struggle between the two sides ultimately pointed to the cruel fact that "women in ancient Rome were just victims."

The characterization of "Rome" can be seen in the character of Octavian. Octavian is young and weak, but in the matter of "Caesar's search for the eagle flag", he easily sees through that the "loss of the eagle flag" is Caesar's false show of weakness to Pompey, and thus smells the breath of war coming.

With such a macro and sharp mindset about power, it is no wonder that he became the first head of the Roman Empire.

"Roma" weaves the turbulent undercurrents of ancient Rome with its dense plot, while the "Spartacus" series (produced by Sam Raimi), which premiered in 2010, directly presents the cruelty and violence of ancient Rome.

Compared to the profound and realistic scenes in "Rome", "Spartacus" has a strong visual style similar to "300", like a series of oil paintings, presenting the "blood and sex" of ancient Rome in detail to the audience.

The series unabashedly depicts bloody fights and love scenes, revealing the violent factors deeply rooted in the class divide in ancient Rome, while at the same time praising the charm of men and women and the highlights of human nature from a modern perspective.

The series was filmed for three seasons, and the rating rose from 8.8 to 9.0. It can be seen that the series is not only large-scale, but also has excellent quality in plot, characters and action scenes.

Spartacus is a hero who led a slave uprising in ancient Roman history. The meaning of freedom he symbolizes was already reflected in the action blockbuster "Gladiator" (2000) directed by Ridley Scott.

"Gladiator," which won the Oscar for Best Picture, fuses violence and freedom together with its gilded texture, creating a golden landscape of ancient Roman humanity seeking ultimate release from repression.

It is worth mentioning that the above-mentioned arena images in ancient Roman themes may have inspired Villeneuve's design of the Harkonnen Family Arena in "Dune 2", which combines ancient Roman and Nazi styles.

With such masterpieces in the spotlight, not to mention the earlier epic classics "Ben-Hur" (1959) and "Spartacus" (1960), the poor quality of today's hodgepodge "The Dying Man" may really prove that Hollywood's overall creation is experiencing serious aesthetic regression and artistic degradation.

How to "return" to the golden age of film and television, where excellence was constantly pursued and masterpieces were produced frequently? It is time for deep reflection and thinking!

Note: Some of the pictures in this article are from Douban and the Internet. If there is any infringement, please contact us.