The first two acts were pretty good and then they did not follow through on what I thought was being set up for the third and I got very sad. Needed an expansion of Acacius, would have loved to have seen more scenes between him and Hanno/Lucius. There is part of a scene between Joseph Quinn and Paul Mescal that I thought was brilliant in terms of tension and lighting. Desperately wanted additional verbal exchanges like that. I am not as much into violence and action (of which there was an excess here, but I knew what I was walking into), but recognize how much effort went into the set design. Mescal was a great choice for this role, but I wish he had been given greater emotional moments and well-written lines with which to illuminate his character. You can feel the complexity just beneath the surface – the same with Pedro Pascal – but they aren’t allowed to truly let the characters shine, as the script binds them too closely to basic territory. The story and characters are ripe with promise and touch upon themes close to my heart – the “greatness” of Rome, striving for ideals, grappling with what can be dreamt and realized, loss of home, what it means to leave a legacy and take on a mantle, corruption, greed, freedom – but I do not think the film explored these to the fullest, even though it had the potential to with its excellent cast, talented crew, and immense funds. I felt a simmer and needed the flame that flickers at the periphery, at times surging, at others dim. And, can we not have even one woman who drives the narrative forward in these films? Must we always be doomed to be used as a plot device for men’s ambition? Food for thought, and an urgent one.