Caligula: The Ultimate Cut (2023)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Follows Caligula, Malcolm McDowell, as he kills his devious adoptive grandfather (Peter O'Toole) and takes control of the decadent Roman Empire, spiraling into depravity, devastation and madness
- Actors:
- Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Teresa Ann Savoy, Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud, John Steiner, Guido Mannari, Paolo Bonacelli, Leopoldo Trieste, Giancarlo Badessi, Mirella D'Angelo, Anneka Di Lorenzo, Lori Wagner, Adriana Asti, Bruno Brive, Rick Parets, Osiride Pevarello, Donato Placido
- Directors:
- Tinto Brass
- Producers:
- Thomas Negovan
- Writers:
- Gore Vidal
- Genres:
- Drama, Performing Arts
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Reviews (3) of Caligula: The Ultimate Cut
The Ultimate Cut - Caligula: The Ultimate Cut review by griggs
This won’t be everyone's cup of tea—more like a psilocybin cocktail with a splash of ayahuasca for good measure. But hey, if you're brave enough to dive into its weird and wonderfully twisted world, you might just end up nodding along with Helen Mirren, who famously called it “an irresistible mix of art and genitals.” Buckle up; it's a wild ride between genius and madness.
Spectacular, Overly Long and A Tad Boring - Caligula: The Ultimate Cut review by GI
The original 1979 Caligula gained huge notoriety and controversy for having had pornographic scenes added by the producer and faced many a ban and condemnation. But it should be remembered that its release came near the end of mainstream cinema's dalliance with soft pornography with a few now cult films of that type littering the decade. Years later and new footage not before used in the original film was discovered and the attempt here was to put together a fresh new edit using only this newly discovered material and enhancing it with some visual assistance and CGi, and a new soundtrack. It no doubt made the British actors more pleased than they were back in 1979! when they disowned the first release. It was a huge box office success mind. The result is this film, still a Gran Guignol extravaganza that has spectacular sets, mostly internal, and often presented in a theatrically staged way and still including a lot of cavorting naked people. Malcom McDowell as Caligula plays the role like some grand Shakespearean character only more annoying. Helen Mirren as his wife has very little to work with apart from stripping off regularly. It's only Peter O'Toole that really shines as Tiberius and John Gielgud looks pained in all his scenes as if he knows what a turkey he's actually found himself in! Anyway this is in no way a historically accurate film as it bears little truth to the known life of Caligula despite his recorded excesses and the film pushes myths that never actually happened, such as making his horse a senator. This is more a flamboyant study of absolute power corruption with lots of scenes of debauchery, extravagant deaths and immorality. It's overly long and drags especially in the last hour or so and ultimately it's a novelty of a film and essentially a load of tripe. I can't help thinking that the original version, porn scenes and all, is of more historical interest than this attempt at a new cut.
Hmm - Caligula: The Ultimate Cut review by sb
FILM & WATCHED So one one the most notorious films of all time gets a reconstruction - in that rather that recut the various existing prints Thomas Nevogan went back to the original rushes ( all 70 hours of them) and rebuilt the film back up from scratch sticking as closely as he could to Gore Vidal’s original script. So is it any good….well not really - on the plus side McDowell is extraordinary - a really electric performance where he uses those ice cold blue eyes to express the inner insanity. The set design is very good with some huge lavish interiors and constumes. But the tone is very variable at times lurching from Pythonesque silliness to really unpleasant gross out and a lot of the supporting cast are fairly poor. Mirren throws herself into the role with gusto but O’Toole just hams it up like mad and at 178 minutes it’s a real slog… So kinda worth to see it just for sake of it but not much more - 3/5