Katherine of Alexandria

As a huge fan of historical dramas, both book and movie, I was so looking forward to this movie. I've never written a review on here before but my disappointment with this movie was so intense that I felt it needed airing. This was perhaps the worst acting I have ever seen in my life (55 yrs). The drugged stares into space, the stilted line delivery, the over dramatic acting by lesser actors in bit parts, the choppy scene transitions. The whole thing was tragically sad and I finally, after multiple attempts, shelved it, never to be finished.

It's a great story I would love to see it done properly and given it's due diligence. This just wasn't it.

I have only given it 2 as Edward Fox is as splendid as always. The story jumps all over the place, it is historical nonesense and utterly confusing. Some of the acting is worse than dire and the direction is appalling. Peter o'toole is sadly wasted but even with a better script this would have been a film too many for him.

I can understand why this film was not given wider publicity - it is rubbish and you will be wasting your time watching it.

I found this film very interesting not for its apparent all male cast, but rather the strong female characters depicted. Nicole Keniheart as Saint Katherine is just beautiful, mesmerising. Where did she come from!? Empress Vita is strong, authoritative, and the Barbarian women are pretty fun, although pretty brutal at times. It goes without saying that Peter O'Toole and Edward Fox are great. Of course they are, they are Peter O'Toole and Edward Fox! I did find it confusing at times, but it didn't really deter too much from the overall enjoyment. I laughed out loud and cried, so I would recommend that you get comfy with tissues at hand, settle down and enjoy. Nicole Keniheart will be seen again for sure!

Anyone who gets a film made should be commended, this, unfortunately, is where the compliments end.

The main fault in the film lies in the script. There is no narrative, the writer/director has essentially cobbled together a bunch of scenes in the hope that they will connect with each other with no real threat or drive for the characters. It is understandable why actors such as the late Peter O'Toole and Edward Fox would be attracted to such a piece, if they were given free reign they'd be munching at the scenery like a rabbit on a lettuce leaf. Yet, they're not. These actors are restrained and make for a dull viewing experience. Seeing actors of this calibre being given the opportunity letting rip is always a pleasure, the fact that they are not is a wasted opportunity.

Nicole Keniheart may look the part, but as a unifying presence for the whole story, she fails. There is nothing of interest to her, and the fate that falls on her doesn't have the emotional wallop that the Director was hoping for as we simply don't care for her. She has no character and as such we never truly connect with her. More could have been made of Katherine's affect on Rome and how she changed the lives of others as such it just feels as if her "followers" blindly accept that she is the second coming and go along with her.

On the whole the film is flat and the greatest crime of all: dull. Ridley Scott's latest film "Exodus" suffered from a similar problem, yet at least it had spectacle. Granted this is on a lower budget, but there was potential to do so much with the material but fails miserably. We don't care for the characters, we aren't drawn into the story and the script is risible. There is a great story to be told about this woman and the last days of the Roman Empire, but this is not that film.

On the plus side, it's in focus.

"Decline of an Empire" (also known as "Katherine of Alexandria") marks the final film for Peter O'Toole. Because of this, I was very anxious to see this film. Now, in hindsight I really regret this. Instead of a last chance to see this wonderful actor, I now remember this as a truly dull and awful film--and O'Toole's legacy deserved better than this. Thankfully, his great films will always overshadow films like "Decline of an Empire". The sooner we forget about it and go on, the better.

The story is about a martyred saint, Katherine of Alexandria, a woman who might have lived during the fourth century. I say might because there seems to be little evidence that she actually existed and her life and martyrdom are based on traditions rather than concrete facts. These traditions, interestingly, began about 500 years after her supposed death--further adding weight to the notion that she is a myth. Still, it could make for a very interesting story--especially as it's set during the waning days of the old Roman Empire. Soon, Christianity would become accepted and no longer persecuted--and this is an incredibly interesting period of change and upheaval. As a retired history teacher and film lover, I wanted to love this film and the plot seemed like it was right up my alley. So why did the film go so wrong?

Like too many recent 'epics', the film was obviously made on a micro- budget. This could work in some cases, but seeing scenes where a dozen or so men constitute a major Roman battle is laughable. This can also be said of scenes involving cities like Rome and Alexandria--places consisting of a tiny handful of actors instead of thriving metropolises. There is nothing epic about this...it's just sad and cheap. The dialog is also ponderous beyond belief. So much of it seemed to make little sense and my attention span waned throughout the movie. Much of it just boggled my mind at how dull and silly it sounded coming out of real live people. Additionally, it sure sounded as if many of the characters in the film were performed by actors who didn't understand English and were merely delivering their lines phonetically. Too often, bizarre accents and odd annunciations derailed important scenes and left the viewer confused and bored. This combined with the dull dialog mentioned above really made the film difficult to enjoy.

The film also kept referring to Egyptians as 'Arabs'. Egyptians might speak a variation on Arabic today, but in the 4th century, when this film is set, the Egyptians had not yet been conquered by the Arabs (which happened several hundred years later) and ethnically they were North Africans. No ancient Roman would have called Egyptians Arabs. I know that this is the history teacher in me talking once again--but this and other historical inaccuracies guarantee that even history teachers won't like this dull film.

I could probably go on a bit more why I hated this film. Suffice to say it had little of O'Toole or the other fine older actors Edward Fox and Joss Acklund--so there's little for their fans in this movie. Their presence was very limited and they often seemed a bit lost in the film. And, even for nostalgia value, it wasn't even enjoyable. A sadly awful film. And, incidentally, as I watched it, my older daughter kept begging me to turn it off...and she, like me, usually loves things about the ancient world. I am sorry for putting you through this, Sarah.