Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Egyptian history is astonishingly long by modern standards. The pharaoh Tutankhamun lived roughly 13 centuries after the pyramids were built, and another 13 centuries would pass before Cleopatra friended an asp.

The plot of this two-disc, 4.5-hour miniseries is centered on the limited facts we know about Tut. He was the son of Akhenaten, whose worship of the sun god Aton and rejection of Egypt’s traditional deities nearly tore the country apart. Tut became pharaoh around age nine and eventually restored the old gods and stabilized the kingdom. But by the time of his death at a young 19, he had failed to produce an heir by his wife and half-sister Ankhesenamun.

Tut’s powerful advisors, the Vizier Ay and General Horemheb, were also historical figures. Both would follow Tut, one after the other, onto the Egyptian throne. And while how Tut died also remains shrouded in controversy, the currently fashionable theory is of a broken leg that became infected—as depicted here.

But significant dramatic liberties were taken. For example, there’s evidence pointing to Tut’s having genetic physical handicaps that would have kept him from being the warrior king suggested by the series. Without that, much of the miniseries’ plot would collapse.

Avan Jogia plays Tut, but it’s Ben Kingsley who headlines in the meaty part of the shifty…um…Ay. Fans might also recognize Nonzo Anozie (from Ender’s Game) as General Horemheb and Alexander Siddig (from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) as the high priest Amun.

But be warned: There’s a lot of graphic violence in this Spike TV series, as well as enough soft porn to make HBO envious—enough to suggest keeping it away from children (and the squeamish). If it were a movie, it would be a hard R.

The production is lavish, with slick period costumes and almost too-perfect sets (likely heavily CGI’d). These qualities alone, together with the crisp, flawless transfer, might well have you humming the scenery. The plot did slog along more than enough through the middle to test my desire to soldier on, but I did. And while the clean, crisp sound is short of what you’ll get from a dynamic feature film, it’s more than adequate for the job and never a negative distraction. This series, and its short but sweet extras, are also available for streaming from Amazon Instant Video, but the picture and sound quality on these Blu-rays are far superior.

Blu-Ray
Studio: Muse Entertainment, 2015
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio Format: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Length: 270 mins.
MPAA Rating: N/A
Director: David Von Ancken
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Avan Jogia, Alexander Siddig