Anthony Hopkins Has Dumb, Pulpy Fun

Time is a Circus Maximus. Back in the early aughts, “Gladiator” conquered the box office before HBO established its bona fides as a home for sex, violence and big budgets with “Rome” a few years later. In 2024, the “Gladiator” sequel is imminent, and television has once again returned to classical antiquity — in fact, to the very same text that inspired “Gladiator” a quarter century ago.

The Peacock drama “Those About to Die” is based on the Daniel P. Mannix novel of the same name, initially published in 1958. Adapted by screenwriter Robert Rodat (“Saving Private Ryan”), the TV version is a sword-and-sandal epic of the old school, spanning the seedy underbelly and opulent excess of ancient Rome. Blockbuster director Roland Emmerich — behind such movies as “Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow” — makes his series directing debut by helming half of the season’s 10 episodes, with Marco Kreuzpaintner taking the rest. Emmerich is not a highbrow auteur, and “Those About to Die” is not a drama that traffics in prestige. Instead, it’s a pulpy, bloody bacchanalia, playing to the cheap seats of the theater we now know as the Colosseum — though back then, it was the Flavian Amphitheatre. For every aspect of the show that’s objectively bad, like the hammy acting or garish CGI, there’s another that makes “Those About to Die” a surprisingly compelling watch. You can’t tell a story about arena fighters without knowing how to appeal to the crowd.

The face on every poster for “Those About to Die” belongs to Anthony Hopkins, who plays the emperor Vespasian in the twilight years of his decade-long reign. But, as is often the case with actors whose decorated CV far oustrips the rest of the cast’s, Hopkins’ gravitas is more of an accent than a centerpiece. To the extent the unwieldy ensemble has a protagonist, it’s Tenax (“Game of Thrones” alum Iwan Rheon), a penniless orphan turned proprietor of Rome’s busiest gambling parlor, among other semi-licit endeavors. In an early demonstration of the show’s haphazard approach, Tenax provides an opening voiceover that quickly disappears as a device.

The loose, overarching plot of “Those About to Die” juxtaposes Tenax’s quest to form his own chariot racing faction with the tensions between Vespasian’s two sons and prospective heirs. That logline nonetheless fails to encapsulate a stuffed roster of racers, gladiators, slaves, bettors, patricians, clerics and royalty, all vying to gain or retain status in a brutally violent, hierarchical society. Tenax’s tendency to coin sweeping aphorisms about his hometown — he drops both “Rise or die: the Roman way” and “This is Rome; it’s all blood money” in the space of a single episode — may be grating, but it’s not inaccurate. Besides, the sheer density of characters and subplots helps “Those About to Die” avoid the molasses pacing that’s become endemic to hourlong streaming shows.

The surfeit of story also helps smooth over some glaring flaws. Emmerich’s fees must have eaten up the visual effects budget, because wide shots of grand temples and crowded racetracks have all the detail and grandeur of an elaborate Lego set. Lions sicced on prisoners for the masses’ entertainment are meant to be menacing, but because they’re so transparently digitized, the scenes carry all the dramatic tension of watching a playthrough of a video game. Other attempts to inject intrigue are laughably overused. I’m no anti-sex scene puritan, but we see so many players mid-coitus that, by the season’s midpoint, a bare nipple elicits little more than a yawn. 

Yet “Those About to Die” is, in practice, a himbo of a show: dumb, musclebound and appealing because of these qualities, not in spite of them. Vespasian’s scheming son Domitian (Jojo Macari), who enlists Tenax in various schemes to undermine his brother and rival Titus (Tom Hughes), is a spittle-spewing, scenery-devouring antagonist who’s no less fun to watch for being by the numbers. (He’s also a textbook gay villain trope, though gradually balanced out by other, less malevolent queer characters.) Champion chariot driver Scorpus (Dimitri Leonidas) insists on referring to himself in the third person, further evidence of the show’s sense of humor. When a soldier informs him he’s under arrest, the athlete responds, with complete sincerity: “No, I am Scorpus!”

“Rome” aired at a time when the conventions of dramas on premium cable, and eventually those on streaming, were in their infancy. “Those About to Die” arrives at a moment when those same elements are familiar tools, which makes them less groundbreaking but no less useful. Tenax, for example, is a Stringer Bell-like figure, a criminal kingpin who yearns to convert his wealth into legitimacy. (The other racing factions are run by Roman elites who chafe at an interloper.) Rheon was terrifying as the sadistic Ramsay Bolton; here, he’s still menacing, but also more nuanced, especially as Tenax teams up with Cala (Sara Martins), a mother working to free her enslaved children. There’s a simple satisfaction in watching two highly competent people work in conjunction, and their chemistry is surprisingly slow-burn on a show that’s otherwise brisk to a fault. 

“Those About to Die” is not conventional summer TV, but in a sense, it’s perfectly timed to blockbuster season, which has recently expanded from the multiplex to the small screen. And unlike “The Acolyte” or “House of the Dragon,” there are significantly lower stakes to this show than the fate of a larger franchise. Emmerich and Rodat rarely linger long enough on the story’s weaker parts to test our patience, and there’s just enough that works to keep us binging. Like a gladiator in the pit, the show earns a thumbs up to fight another day.

All 10 episodes of “Those About to Die” are now available to stream on Peacock.