Review – Cleopatra

Before Michael Cimino came along, this was the cinematic benchmark for colossal wastes of money. Other than the grandiose sets, flamboyant costumes and endless parades of extras, this outing is primarily notable as the great romantic pairing of Elizabeth Taylor (in the title role) and Richard Burton (as Mark Antony). Maybe I’m just too jaded for such things, but for some reason the famous couple’s off-screen romance just didn’t seem to translate into on-screen chemistry. The Roman spectacle thing works well, but otherwise this tends to be just another extremely long and not extremely interesting movie, an uninspired retelling of an all-too-familiar tale. Mildly amusing