Delayed Reaction: Cleopatra

Premise: The story of the famous Egyptian queen.

 

There’s no way to briefly talk about every notable thing about Cleopatra. It’s among the most infamous film productions ever for its extreme cost. Sure, even adjusted for inflation in pales in comparison to some of the blockbusters made today, but in the 1960s, there was nothing like it. Just 7 years before, The Ten Commandments was the most expensive film ever made. It cost $13 million. In 1963, Cleopatra cost $31 million. That’s huge. It’s not unique. We went from $60 million for Total Recall to $200 million for Titanic in just 7 years too. And Titanic did go onto being the highest grossing movie of all time for over a decade. It’s still quite an escalation though. And Cleopatra sure does look expensive. Those sets are massive. The number of extras is incredible. Some of that naval warfare is intricate. This absolutely felt like I was watching a movie made on an epic scale.

 

But there is a reason why the film is mostly known for its expense and extravagance, not its quality. This movie is 4 hours long. As grandiose as it is, it felt more like a studio showing off than a film that needed the grandeur. And, of course, there’s Elizabeth Taylor playing Cleopatra. I’d attack Hollywood of 1963 for the whitewashing except Exodus: Gods and Kings was still doing it in 2014. Taylor is fine in the performance. It’s a movie star performance – Taylor as Cleopatra rather than Cleopatra played by Taylor. Most of my issue was with the length. I didn’t get much out of the movie. As often happens with these epics, it’s a good 2-hour movie stretched into 4. There wasn’t enough of a compounding effect with the length to justify it. This is definitely on the lower end of those 50s and 60s epics for me.

 

Verdict: Weakly Don’t Recommend