Sword and Sandals films have been around for decades. They were a staple of cinemas. After Gladiator came out in the summer of 2000, they had a resurgence.  Even some television shows like Rome and Spartacus came out to take advantage of this newfound popularity in sword and sandal movies. The newest sword and sandals series is Those About To Die on Peacock, and it lives up to the great history of this genre.

This show has a similar vibe to other popular series you might know of, such as Game of Thrones. It has an epic scale like nothing I’ve seen recently, just like that phenomenal series. One thing Those About To Die and other shows have copied in recent years is it focuses on a series of characters. As the show gets going, all of these chacters get introduced one by one, so the viewers get to know who all the players are. The cast is vast.

Tanex, (Ewan Rhoen, Game of Thrones) is the owner of a Betting Tavern, that handles Horse Racing Teams, he is also the unreliable Narrator of the series, Vespasian (Anthony Hopkins) is the leader of Rome at this time. Dominion Flavianus (Jojo Macan)  Cala (Sara Martins) Titus Flavianus (Tom Hughes) Viggo (Johannes Haurkur) Barenice (Lara Wolf) Antonia Gabriella Pession) Scopus (Dimitri Leonidas) Xenon (Emilio Sakraya) Aura (Kyshan Wilson) Marcus (Rupert Penry-Jones) are other characters in this vast cast. The rest of this sprawling cast are relatives of the leaders. Or slaves are trying to get out of their situation,  or even men and women who have various motivations to get rich or rule. The series has an amazing cast of new and established actors who are doing great work here.

The show was created by Robert Rodat. He’s also the head writer, but he has enlisted two established directors to direct the series for him. Roland Emmerich and Marco Kreuzpaintner. These two are used to dealing with big spectacle films like this and so forth, so this show is right up their alley.  It’s massive in scope and feel. Whether it’s filmed on soundstages or location, the enormity of the production is in full view of the camera. They didn’t spare a dime on this massive period piece sword and sandals epic. I love it when shows like this, and streamers or film studios go so big and epic in scale. It shows that they are going all in this massive production. It looks great!

With the massive scale of this series also comes the great technical aspects that go with it. First are the sets. The show goes to a lot of places within the context of this story. Some of them are Circus Maximus Racetrack of the Roman Empire,  Namibia Roman Province Of Northern Africa,  Ostia Harbor Port of Rome,  Imperial Palace of Palatine Hill, House of Titus Via Appia, and The Port of Leptis Magna.  All of these sets or locations are filmed beautifully. The cinematography by Vittorio Omodei Zorini is breathtakingly gorgeous. Whether the series uses flame or daylight every scene looks perfectly lit and comes across that way on screen. Along with the sets and cinematography comes the production design, costumes hairstyling, and makeup. These also add credibility to this show. This is an amazing series from top to bottom regarding its technical acumen. 

One of the things I like about epic television or streaming shows like this one is that there is a lot of story and dialogue to go along with it. There are a lot of characters with different motivations. These motivations come in all shapes and sizes. That makes backstabbing, conniving, and back alley dealings the norm in a series such as this. Game of Thrones, based on the books by George RR Martin,  perfected this type of storytelling.  Rome was a time of success for many while it was a tough time for many others, but like any civilization, people are trying to get ahead or climb out of their bad situations in life. That leads to a lot of different kinds of characters that have many ideas of what they can do to improve their standing in this civilization.  I love every minute of it. It’s definitely my jam.

With all the other stuff I mentioned I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the action sequences. There are multiple chariot races involving the four colors with a subplot of a fifth team possibly being formed in the background.  As seen in films like Ben Hur these kinds of action scenes can be quite dramatic, bloody, and very violent. A lot of crazy stuff happens during these scenes. Also, there are many gladiator fights in various locations mostly in the ever-expanding Coliseum.  A lot of exotic animals like lions and so forth are in the arena with these men. These battles are a staple of these types of films and shows. I loved all the blood and guts as well as the edge-of-my-seat incredible action.

Those About To Die is epic in every possible way It could be. The scale is incredible and the story goes along with it. This show only goes as far as Rodat. Emmerich and the other writers and directors will take it. And they have taken it very far. From the technical aspects to every other department that was involved with this series the producers didn’t spare a single cent. Every dime they spent on this show is shown on screen. From the cast to the sets and cinematography, costumes,  makeup and hairstyling. It’s all there for audiences to see. Peacock is in the business of television and they are not messing around with this show. It’s one of the best sword and sandals shows and or films I have ever seen. I was completely brown away by everything I was watching. I hope viewers on Peacock like it as much as I did.

5 stars

Dan Skip Allen