Chirphymium
It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
Taha Avalos
The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Kayden
This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
ma-cortes
This mini-series describes first the emperor Caligula become himself nutty and proclaims senator his horse , kills his brother-in-law ( Nerone's father )and exiles his sister Agripina (Laura Morante) to far island. Caligula is murdered by his generals and succeeded Claudio , he married Mesalina who will cheat him with several lovers and then she is repudiated. After that, Claudio married Agripina . She convinces Claudio for heir to Nerone (Hans Matheson) marring him to Octavia, Claudio's daughter, and disinheriting his another son, Britanico . The Nerone empire (54-68) was under influence of Burro and stoic philosopher named Lucius Anneo Seneca( Matthias Habich) his sage and wise assistant but Agripina actually governs . Then she conspires against her son and Nero orders kill her along with Britanico . At the beginning years Nero empire were peaceful and prosperous but when he turned nut-head and supported by his favourite, the evil and ambitious Tijelinus , the governed with despotism , submitted the senate and committed atrocities , pursued Christians, murdered to Burro , Seneca ,Popea , senators(Ian Richardson, Simon Andreu).. becoming an authentic tyrant . Besides , he ordered firing the ancient Roma and Christians are accused and martyrized . Deprived emperor orders burn them on flaming cross and bear a cruel martyrdom . Later on, Nero is killed and was succeeded by Galba, and empire took a while for decadence and downfall. The film is the second episode of the ¨Imperium¨ series covering the Roman empire , the first was ¨Octavius Augustus¨ with Peter O'Toole and Charlotte Rampling (as Livia). The costume design and production design hold similar features than former production but have made good use of it. Setting are pretty nice , scenarios are spectaculars . The Roman Forum , Roman Capitol , temples are well designed . It's an European co-production made by numerous countries (Italy, France, Germany )and is shot in Tunisia. This television movie has epic action , love story , exciting drama, bloody gladiator combats in the arena and lots of crowd scenes , however the runtime is overlong and a little boring . Main actors interpretation is good, as Hans Matheson and Laura Morante but Nero personage belongs forever to Peter Ustinov ( Quo Vadis) . The picture is profitable for public tendency to ¨Sword and Sandals¨ genre re-initiated with ¨Gladiator¨ (Ridley Scott). The flick will appeal to Romans genre fans and history buffs.
Spike-in-Berlin
"Nero" as the title of the movie is in Germany is a another attempt to show one of the most interesting Roman emperors, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, better known as Nero. Although this attempt at least tried to show a more historic accurate Nero than the amusing but completely fictitious Nero Peter Ustinov played in "Quo Vadis!" it still is a major failure. And to those IMDb-commentators who still believe that Sueton and Tacitus propaganda is true, please read a book about Nero that was published less than 20 years ago. Nero did NOT burn Rome, this is proved! He did not murder Britannicus. He did not torture, kill and maim for pleasure, he was the first emperor who BANNED the gladiator fights. The movie still shows a lot of mistakes, errors and is by the way made in a really cheap style, especially the sets were cheap and unconvincing, the palace looking like some villa, the city itself looked like..well like a cheap set. The acting was between good and sub-par, the music nearly insignificant and the movie soon deteriorated after Nero became emperor to a rushed, bad edited mess without any clear narrative structure. So there still is the potential for an epic biography of Nero that shows the true Nero, who was one of the best emperors who ruled Rome, despite the lies of Sueton et al.
gradyharp
The miniseries made of television that examines the highlights of the Roman Empire ('Imperium: Augustus' was the first). While the sets and costumes and flavor and atmosphere of that phenomenal period in history is well captured and the production qualities are strong, the historical accuracy is diminished by 'cleaning up' the facts and rearranging dates and incidents to make a 'Hollywood version' of the Roman Empire.Given the fact that this is not a biopic but rather an entertainment, IMPERIUM: NERO is interesting, if long at 192 minutes, to watch in continuity. Nero was born in 37 AD and died in 68 AD and during those 31 years much changed in Rome. We first met Nero as a child 'abolished' to a life with the slaves by the infighting among the Emperors - Caligula (John Simm) and Claudius (Massimo Dapporto) - and the Senate - namely Porridus (Simón Andreu), Burrus (Maurizio Donadoni), and Septimus (Ian Richardson). While living among the people we are informed that Nero (a fine Hans Matheson) falls in love with commoner slave Acte (Rike Schmid) and when misdeeds in Rome call him back to power (through the wily and devious guidance of his mother Agrippina (Laura Morante, the true star of this film), Nero is forced to marry well and forswear his love for Acte. Once proclaimed Emperor, Nero does some bad things such as having his brother Britannicus (Francesco Venditti) killed, etc and begins to descend into madness instead of fulfilling his vision of creating an empire for the people. His teachers include wise Seneca (Matthias Habich) and commoner Etius (Jochen Horst) and his loyal friends include Tegellinus (Mario Opinato). Once on his downward spiral Nero begins to murder and destroy those close to him and finally burns the city of Rome to prepare the ground for his grand palace and city, all the while playing on is lyre.If this all sounds wicked and cruel, then it is probably better that the story didn't 'flesh out' the true obese, schizophrenic, megalomaniacal, sexually dysfunctional creature that was Nero. You need the history books to see what a hideous tyrant he was, a man who placed his acting and circus skills above all else, castrating young boys who resembled his mother to marry while also marrying the prostitute Poppea (Elisa Tovati). But the major problem with this version of Nero's tenure is the emphasis on the new sect called Christians. Indeed, even the apostle Paul is brought in to cleanse the proceedings and seep evangelicalism into the story to help it end! But for the script as written (by Paul Billing and Francesco Contaldo) director Paul Marcus brings off a fascinating though long image of the Roman Empire. Not for Roman scholars perhaps, but for those who enjoy historically based epics, this NERO should do nicely Grady Harp
giorgio giordano
"Imperium Nero" is the second movie of the series of six productions named "Imperium". I have already unfavorably commented the first one: "Imperium Augustus". This second TV movie produced and broadcast last weekend by the Italian state owned network has the same defects. In addition contains a considerable number of historical errors. Some examples: Nero is a child and Agrippina calls him: "Nero, Nero". At that time is name was Claudius. He was named Nero after his adoption. Nero did not meet Acte when he was young as in the movie but after his marriage with Octavia and his nomination to Emperor. When becoming Emperor his sons where not adults: Britannicus is one month old and Octavia one year old. And many many more. If you are fond of ancient roman history you can find yourselves other examples. "Imperium" series will continue with four more movies : "Titus", "Marcus Aurelius","Costantinus" and"The Fall of the Roman Empire". Finally!
