Look, I'm sure the people in the past were a lot more rough round the edges than we are, especially the poor or those who were trying to survive a life or death situation. So this film captures the rawness of life back then. It revolves around a band of men trying escape certain death who just happen to be called Romulus and Remus. Because of the protagonists there is also the usual growling, snarling and slightly overdone acting here and there to contend with as modern actors try to connect to what their ancestors were like. It's a bit too much at times.
We all know the story, so it doesn't need rehashing, although this doesn't follow the myth fully. What I liked about the film was the attempt to make it as 'historical' as possible. It is after all a fictional story, Romulus probably didn't exist, it's a myth that a lot of Indo European cultures have (twins and the death of one, founding fathers being linked to gods etc) but they have tried to recreate the look and feel of Italy in 700-800BC.
The Archaic Latin dialogue was interesting too but I feel it held the film up as at times as it's guess work by the linguistic experts who advised the writers - there are whole sections of the film with no speaking, or with quite ponderous discussions - mainly because they don't know enough of the language. You feel if it was in modern Italian it would be less stilted and would flow more. Fascinating all the same.
Anyway I enjoyed the film apart from some of the gore and mumbling, long scenes. It's nice to see a different take on a historical drama.
