Even though this movie was massively successful, and references to it abound, I had never seen it. It's longer than I'd like, at about 3:15, but it still remains a lot of fun, and a strong example of a type of epic filmmaking no longer used.
Kubrick directed this in 1960, but it doesn't have most of his stylistic choices. In fact, it looks much more like similar period pictures from that time - like Ben-Hur, which came out the year before. Kubrick liked to use longer shots, and while we see some of that in this, it isn't applied the same way.
What I like seeing are these wide shots, with a lot of the landscape visible, and the huge cast of extras working. There are plenty of these examples early in the movie, as we see a bunch of slaves working on a mountain.
The massive cast is impressive. When the slave/gladiator revolt comes, the battle is handled wonderfully. It's confusing enough to feel chaotic, but organized enough that you can tell what happens. Before that event, though, there was a scene I really liked. There are two gladiator matches. When the first one starts, we stay with Spartacus, who is waiting in a box along with his opponent. They don't say anything, and we're left with them getting to hear the sounds of the match that's going on. Occasionally, Spartacus peaks out through some wood slats to see what's happening. This is handled perfectly. We get some good tension, and without the action to focus on, it doesn't seem nearly as glamorous it would otherwise.
The romance between Spartacus and Varinia is played very nicely. My one reservation about the storyline is how so many of the scenes between them are played on sets. Their performances are fine, but I actually find the fakeness of the set to be a bit distracting.
The ending is sort of tragic, and it seems a little unfulfilling, since the time we spend with Spartacus paints him as even-handed, and a very noble leader. He seems entirely justified, so we'd like to see him fight back a little more.
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