Hail Caesar! What's Good & Bad About the New Sword & Sandal Movies

I come to praise Sword & Sandal movies — not to bury them.

But with Wrath of the Titans and the Sword & Sandal/sci-fi mash-up John Carter not exactly setting the world on fire — along with recent disappointments like Immortals and Conan — it's getting more difficult by the day to believe that the Sword & Sandal movie can survive the recent fumbling of this otherwise great genre.

And that's a shame, because the Sword & Sandal movie — known for its gladiatorial games, pagan orgies, depraved emperors, and the occasional snarling cyclops — may represent the most colorful and enduring movie genre of all time.

So for the uninitiated, what exactly is a Sword & Sandal movie?

Like its cousin the Biblical epic, a Sword & Sandal movie — or 'peplum,' named after a type of ancient Greek garment — is typically set in the ancient Mediterranean world, and dramatizes the fight for freedom.

Original Link: MOVIEFONE