Age of Treason

I'm a huge fan of Lindsey Davis' mystery series set in First Century Rome, and was really disappointed by this filmic conflation of several of her early Marcus Didius Falco novels. The primary flaw, which spoils anything good in the movie (and there IS some good stuff here) is the woeful miscasting of Bryan Brown as Falco. I've loved Brown in several other movies, but he isn't the guy for this role. Most especially distressing is his lower-class Aussie accent, which is completely wrong for Falco -- he could never have won the heart of a Senator's daughter talking like this!

It's really a shame, because the Falco series deserves a treatment like what the BBC provided for "I, Claudius." It's that good.

Entertaining movie but many unintentionally funny moments. Reminiscent of Hercules and Xena tv series. Bryan Brown's accent is distracting, especially in the narration. Hunky kickboxer Matthias Hues is fun to watch as Justus. Suspenseful plot. "Gladiator" is much better.

It was inevitable that someone should try to make a movie out of Lindsay Davis's Falco novel, which is one of the most original and witty comic-thriller series around currently, but it is a shame that this one fails so badly to convey the humourous detective-noir cynicism of Falco, or the rich supporting cast of characters that Davis employs so well. The visual effects are very good, and Rome looks great, and Brown - accent aside - is a suitable Falco, hardbitten, yet softhearted, but the plot is a mish-mash, drawing elements from the first three Davis novels, and combining them with a new subplot involving Falco owning a gladiator slave, who is forced into a duel to the death with his she-gladiator lover, and another involving a religious cult, resulting in a badly garbled story and a feeble ending. Davis's books would make an excellent series of films, or even a TV series, but the writers will need to do better than this.

This is apparently based on a series of mystery novels about a private eye in ancient Rome (I can't imagine!), but comes across as a convoluted pilot episode for TOGA-PARTY MURDER, SHE WROTE. Still, it's entertaining in a goofy, bad-taste sort of way with it's sex cult and gladiator games being the highlight. Flagrantly Aussie Bryan Brown and Aryan bodybuilder Matthias Hues make quite a pair! Hokey dokey.

I liked this movie, things occur rapidly, but never without cause. Even most of the "good" characters are complex, with different motives. Maybe this is a movie where the bad characters might need more work. The only unfortunate aspect of this movie are the references to our present culture. More things that fit into this "Age" would be appropriate.