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| Rome - The Complete First Season | 
 enlarge | Directors: Michael Apted, Allen Coulter, Timothy Van Patten
Actors: Ciaran Hinds, Polly Walker, James Purefoy, Lindsay Duncan, Indira Varma
Studio: HBO Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $59.98
Buy New: $32.95
You Save: $27.03 (45%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $29.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  (329 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1425
Format: Ac-3, Box Set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 619 minutes
Number Of Items: 6
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.5 x 1.6
MPN: 92848
UPC: 026359284823
EAN: 0026359284823
ASIN: B000FJH4X2
Release Date: August 15, 2006
Theatrical Release Date: August 28, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
(HBO Dramatic Series) Four hundred years after the founding of the Republic Rome is the wealthiest city in the world a cosmopolitan metropolis of one million people; epicenter of a sprawling empire. The Republic was founded on principles of shared power and fierce personal competition never allowing one man to seize absolute control. But now those foundations are crumbling eaten away by corruption and excess. After eight years of war two soldiers Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo unwittingly become entwined in the historical events of ancient Rome. A serialized drama of love and betrayal masters and slaves husbands and wives ROME chronicles a turbulent era that saw the death of the republic and the birth of an empire.Running Time: 720 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:DRAMA UPC:026359284823 Manufacturer No:92848
Amazon.com
Family dysfunction. Treachery. Betrayal. Coarse profanity. Brutal violence. Graphic (and sometimes brutal) sex. No, it's not The Sopranos, it's Rome, HBO's madly ambitious series that bloodily splatters the glory of Rome just as savagely as Monty Python and the Holy Grail soiled the good name of Camelot (but with far fewer laughs; very few funny things happen on the way to this forum). Set in 52 B.C. (Before Cable), Rome charts the dramatic shifts in the balance of power between former friends Pompey Magnus (Kenneth Cranham), leader of the Senate, and Julius Caesar (Ciaran Hinds), whose imminent return after eight years to Rome after conquering the Gauls, has the ruling class up in arms. At the heart of Rome is the odd couple friendship between two soldiers who fortuitously become heroes of the people. Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) is married, honorable, and steadfast. Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson) is an amoral rogue whose philosophy is best summed up, "I kill my enemies, take their gold, and enjoy their women." Among Rome's most compelling subplots is Lucius's strained relationship with his wife, Niobe (Indira Varma), who is surprised to see her husband alive (but not as surprised as he is to find her upon his homecoming with a newborn baby in her arms!) Any viewer befuddlement over Rome's intrigues and machinations, and determining who is hero and who is foe, disappears the minute Golden Globe-nominee Polly Walker appears as Atia, Caesar's formidable niece and a villainess for the ages. In the first hour alone, she offers her already married daughter as a bride to the recently widowed Pompey. One eagerly awaits to see what (or who) she'll do next as much as we anticipate her comeuppance in the final episode. Rome is a painstakingly mounted production that earned eight well-deserved Emmy nominations in such categories as costumes, set design, and art direction. Michael Apted (Coal Miner's Daughter) was honored with a Director's Guild Award for the first episode, "The Stolen Eagle." But artistic considerations aside, instantly addicted viewers will agree with Atia, who notes at one point, "I adore the secrecy, the intrigue. It's most thrilling." --Donald Liebenson Beyond the Series 
The Roman Empire in film and television | 
The Roman Empire in documentaries | 
More HBO DVDs | Stills from Rome (click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 324 more reviews...
 ROME ON DVD August 27, 2008
GREAT SERIES, LOVED THE SERIES AND RECOMMEND IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN IT, ADDED TO MY COLLECTION!!!!!!!!!1
Let me get right to it...... August 26, 2008
This was the best mini-series every created. Period. The Casting Director is worth her weight in diamonds and gold. Every charater was 100% spot on. An amazing series. Pity the BBC and HBO only made two seasons.
First in the series August 20, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Everyone else has described the gist of the story so well that anything else I add would be totally superfluous,except to say that the costuming and make up are first rate and once you get over your initial shock at all of the exposed, even flaunted genitalia ( such as the sex slave sent as a gift to a very respectable Roman matron with his VERY large penis wrapped in twined gold ribbon), you quite soon get used to it all and take it for granted. I liked the idea of the Romans of all classes talking in what would be their proper accents, by the British actors, rather than some fancied up pseudo accent which was formerly used in sword and sandal movies years ago. Having a reasonable knowledge of the history of that era, I found it easy to follow the machinations of Pompey and Ceasar and their various cronies and thoroughly enjoyed this series.
 Disturbingly vulgar and violent, but worth watching if... August 10, 2008
Although the real Rome of Caesar's time was chocked full of sex and violence, the makers of ROME easily could have depicted the pervasiveness of both without showing, for instance, a penis wrapped-up in a pretty bow and a man's bar-brawled head being opened by a local "surgeon."
Having said this, the show is both entertaining and--for anyone who wants to "see" facets of the Rome he's only read about and is willing to be disgusted by unnecessary and tasteless scenes of nudity and gore to do so--worth watching.
Be aware, however, that ROME is not uplifting. The confused morality that seeps through many of the episodes is disturbing. It's possible that the writers were trying to capture the moral uncertainties of many Romans of the time, but, underneath, I highly doubt this is the reason they chose to turn heroes into murderers and murderers back into "heroes."
Overall, I was entertained enough to watch until the last episode; but I'm passing on the second season. I imagine it can only get less heroic (and it was just barely heroic to begin with), more depressing, and more vulgar and gruesome from here.
Now if you've made it through all the other reviews to mine, I would recommend that you rent ROME, and hold your nose a little while you watch it.
You love it or hate it... August 7, 2008
HBO's Rome is a great television series about that Ancient City. The daily life is perfect in almost every way and the history, while compressed, is pretty correct as far as I know. As far as ANY of us know. There are gaps and the HBO people try to do their best to fill in those spaces with realistic but interesting events.
The streets of Rome were that crowded, maybe with more beggars and more dirt, the buildings were that tall, with a few more fires going on, and the city that big. But with lots more smog and lots of people tossing stuff onto the floor or out the window. You may now say ewwww.
Yes, there is sex. There is sex NOW too you know. Remember, in those days they didn't have the same taboos that we have. Also, living in a crowded city with over a million people, some of which are living almost on top of you, some of them slaves who have to work around you, you have to develop invisible walls to keep your privacy. You really should look at Rome as an Eastern city, a people influenced by more by the Greeks, the Persians, and the Egyptians than any other cultures. Rome was a city more like those of China and Japan, trying to deal with lots of people in a tiny, walled in, space.
Yes, there was violence. This is a time of infighting, political attacks and good old fashion gang warfare. The streets would have been unsafe at night and, sometimes, during the day too. Hired thugs were the norm. Rome was sometimes peaceful, but not then. It would not see true peace for a few decades.
I was shocked only by the lack of history knowledge shown by many of the online reviews I found on other websites. Some people, attached to newspapers which will remain unnamed, attacked almost everything about the first season. Let me help correct their errors. Yes, there were chain shirts. They took the idea from the Celtics. Yes, there were whistles used by the military. Yes, slaves WOULD have been around while their owners had sex. Who else would get the wine and help dry you off later? Yes, yes, yes. You get the picture? The Cult of the Great Mother, killing the cow or bull over the pit, yes, that was around as early as 200 BC. Just because many Romans did not approve of the cult did not mean it wasn't around.
The DVDs came in a nice case and many of the episodes had nice commentary. There are also lots of extras and a photo gallery. Well worth the price, new or used.
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