Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2631 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-07-24
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, German
• Number of discs: 6
• Running time: 594 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Family dysfunction. Treachery. Betrayal. Coarse profanity. Brutal violence. Graphic (and sometimes brutal) sex. No, it's not The Sopranos, it's Rome, HBO's madly ambitious series that bloodily splatters the glory of Rome just as savagely as Monty Python and the Holy Grail soiled the good name of Camelot (but with far fewer laughs; very few funny things happen on the way to this forum). Set in 52 B.C. (Before Cable), Rome charts the dramatic shifts in the balance of power between former friends Pompey Magnus (Kenneth Cranham), leader of the Senate, and Julius Caesar (Ciaran Hinds), whose imminent return after eight years to Rome after conquering the Gauls, has the ruling class up in arms. At the heart of Rome is the odd couple friendship between two soldiers who fortuitously become heroes of the people. Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) is married, honorable, and steadfast. Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson) is an amoral rogue whose philosophy is best summed up, "I kill my enemies, take their gold, and enjoy their women". Among Rome's most compelling subplots is Lucius's strained relationship with his wife, Niobe (Indira Varma), who is surprised to see her husband alive (but not as surprised as he is to find her upon his homecoming with a newborn baby in her arms!) Any viewer befuddlement over Rome's intrigues and machinations, and determining who is hero and who is foe, disappears the minute Golden Globe-nominee Polly Walker appears as Atia, Caesar's formidable niece and a villainess for the ages. In the first hour alone, she offers her already married daughter as a bride to the recently widowed Pompey. One eagerly awaits to see what (or who) she'll do next as much as we anticipate her comeuppance in the final episode.

Rome is a painstakingly mounted production that earned eight well-deserved Emmy nominations in such categories as costumes, set design, and art direction. Michael Apted (Coal Miner's Daughter) was honored with a Director's Guild Award for the first episode, "The Stolen Eagle." But artistic considerations aside, instantly addicted viewers will agree with Atia, who notes at one point, "I adore the secrecy, the intrigue. It's most thrilling." --Donald Liebenson

DVD Description
Rome: The Complete HBO Season 1 (6 Disc Box Set)

Special Features
This item has sub-titles in English, French, German and Dutch, and for the Hard of Hearing in both English and German.

Customer Reviews

A watchable series.
As with most historically-based films and TV shows, this has polarised opinion. Some people are very enthusiastic, others are enthusiastic only in their criticism. I suppose it all depends on what one expects from one's entertainment. If you are prepared to let a little exaggeration and embellishment slide, I imagine you will enjoy this series immensely. As a classicist myself I enjoyed this, although that isn't to say I'm about to use it as a historical source, to be studied and given pride of place on any academic course or essay bibliography. Not at all; it is a piece of entertainment based on people and events rooted in reality. Such phrases as 'directorial licence' should, I feel, be kept firmly in mind.

I felt that this was well directed, sumptuous and well acted. My deduction of a star stems from the fact that I do find extreme violence and sexual scenes disconcerting. These are few and far between, but there is good reason why this bears its age certification. Where the scenes occur they do not spare the viewer's flinches or indeed their blushes. This is very much an adult show (in fact I put off watching it for some time because I thought that it wouldn't be to my tastes, and until I happened to tune in to one episode on television I hadn't realised what I was missing).

In the name of practicality I should say that it is comprised of 12 episodes which I suppose are about an hour or so in length. The first season takes you from the beginning of Julius Caesar's Civil War against Pompey up to the tyrannicide (or not, depending on your views) at the end. It stars Kevin McKidd, Ray Stephenson, Ciaran Hinds, James Purefoy, David Bamber, Kenneth Cranham, Max Pirkis, Tobias Menzies, Polly Walker and Lindsay Duncan (amongst others), each of whom play a character who is well-written and interesting (there are few dull and uninteresting characters in 'Rome'). The main context in the series is the Civil War. The DVD extras are fair but the seasoned extras buff may be disappointed.

On the whole this was an extremely watchable showcase of some of the best talent the acting profession can muster (I am truly relieved that we were spared the torture of having to watch Hollywood dolly-birds and overtly masculine ham-actors attempt such a jewel of a subject). There is no accounting for taste, but this does have something for everyone. Providing one isn't fool enough to demand absolute historical accuracy from one's entertainment (and this is a TV serial rather than a documentary) then I imagine you'll enjoy this immensely.

Gripping and convincing
This period--from the rise of Caesar to his assassination--is an absorbing one, with a cast of extraordinary characters, and the series does it proud. 'Rome' is an instantly gripping, absorbing series with a completely convincing recreation of ancient Roman life and manners(and pretty shocking they are, too, in many instances!) The acting is superb, the settings magnificent, the music haunting, and there is no attempt to modernise the attitudes of the time. The portrayal of Roman religion is also done very, very well. This is Rome both familiar and very strange. And yes, it's very graphic, in all sorts of ways, but then, those weren't compassionate or modest times. Very highly recommended.

A thorougly entertaining series...
Rome - something I often bypassed in shops and never really caught much of on TV - still, it intreagued me, and once the price had dropped on Amazon, I thought I would buy the first series and give it a try.

Set against the turbulant times of a failing Roman Republic and of a civil war brewing between Pompey and Ceaser, the first episode opens with Pompey grieving the death of his wife (Ceaser's daughter) through childbirth. Knowing that the final tie between them is broken, Ceaser knows he has to move against Pompey or be trampled altogether.

The series also follows the trials and tribulations of Vorenous a stern, often grim and seemingly straight laced Centurian and brash, foul mouthed, cheery and sex obsessed Titus Pullo. Their actions (Particulary Pullos,) seems to have considerable consequences on the outcomes of events within Rome.

The series is very entertaining, sword fights, much political intreague, plots, sub plots, and twists and turns. The camera work is fantastic, the sets unbelievably good and everything has a rich, authentic feel to it and you can quite believe where all that money went. The performances by the actors are excellent - particulary the hateful Atia who plots and schemes her way through every episode in the series, and Titus Pullo - a very likeable character indeed, for all his moral shortcomings.

Well worth watching - I'll be ordering season 2 off the back of what is a truly excellent first season.