Determined to hold on to the throne, Cleopatra seduces the Roman emperor Julius Caesar. When Caesar is murdered, she redirects her attentions to his general, Marc Antony, who vows to take power—but Caesar’s successor has other plans.
Harrison, doing his waspish don act as Caesar, alone rises above mediocrity.
– Geoff Andrew,
Time Out,
9 Feb 2006
fresh:
Cleopatra is not only a supercolossal eye-filler (the unprecedented budget shows in the physical opulence throughout), but it is also a remarkably literate cinematic recreation of an historic epoch.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
5 Sep 2007
rotten:
[A] general muddle.
– Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader,
5 May 2008
rotten:
It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, for good and ill.
– Trevor Johnston,
Time Out,
9 Jul 2013
fresh:
Taylor inhabits the role with a focussed but uninhibited imperiousness, as when she turns Cleopatra's entrance into Rome, aboard a giant rolling sphinx, into the ultimate red-carpet photo op.