I don't know how other reviewers gave this an average of 7 stars. The film starts with 2 shepherds in a valley with woods either side who are suddenly swept away by a tsunami wave! No establishing shot to show they were near the sea. Already ridiculous. The story continues. Apart from the very graphic fight scenes all the characters actions are so, so slow and laboured. Everyone walks and does things as if they were in a trance. Romulus looks like a neanderthal. They dress like cavemen but have swords, knives, bows and arrows. Lots of moody looks from Remus staring into the distance. He tells his band of fellow escaped slaves and villagers who he "won" by killing their warriors that they would leave and build a city. They'd just left a village of a few crude wooden teepees so how does a shepherd suddenly get such an idea? Oh yes, a witch foresaw it, sort of. Suddenly Remus proclaims himself King, not Chief or leader, but King. His self imposed power goes to his head and he becomes a despot, leaves the witch tied to a tree to be mauled by wild beasts. The film ends on the banks of the River Tiber, surrounded by marsh, woods and the 7 hills with Romulus declaring the city, yet even to have a lean-to shelter built, to be called Rome. The end.
Review of The First King
