'Spartacus' is a strange entry in the Stanley Kubrick canon

Kirk Douglas in Spartacus

Spartacus -- the story of a slave rebellion in Ancient Rome -- is one of Stanley Kubrick's most popular and successful films, and yet it's missing many of his trademark cinematic flourishes and the late great director all but disowned the movie after it came out in 1960, so it has an odd status among diehard fans of the filmmaker.

It's an undeniably entertaining movie, chockfull of rousing battle sequences, charismatic performances and gorgeous cinematography, but one can't help but wonder what kind of film it would have been if Kubrick had been give complete artistic control.

The reality is that his heart was probably never in the picture. It was a troubled project when he came on board, the original director -- Anthony Mann -- had been fired after clashing with its producer-star Kirk Douglas. The film was already a risky venture since it was unabashedly breaking the dreaded Hollywood blacklist by boldly crediting writer Dalton Trumbo for its screenplay.

Today, there are certainly elements of the film that are dated -- but I am also struck by its scope, ambition and willingness to sidestep a happy ending for a more historically accurate and downbeat one.

I have never been a big fan of so-called sword and sandal epics. Gladiator was never a touchstone for me and I find films like Ben-Hur unbearably bloated despite their strong points.

But Spartacus rises above its genre trappings thanks in part to its top-notch cast -- besides the physically impressive Douglas, there's Laurence Olivier chewing scenery with gusto, Charles Laughton giving a sly performance as Olivier's wily nemesis, Tony Curtis as Douglas' sidekick of sorts, Jean Simmons as the love interest and Peter Ustinov in an Oscar-winning turn as a greedy slave trader who ironically serves as the film's comic relief.

A little bit of Kubrick's savage wit comes across in the films portrayal of Rome's political machinations. The film almost plays like a precursor to Game of Thrones at times, with its backstabbing betrayals and sexual ambiguities. The film's handling of its more sappy elements is less convincing however. Kubrick was never a filmmaker with "heart" and the overtly emotional nature of Spartacus will likely be jarring for his fans.

Kubrick clashed a lot with Douglas on this film (they had worked together previously and gotten along well on the great World War I film Paths of Glory). This picture was something of a vanity project for Douglas -- but it paid off. It was an enormous success at the box office, and remains his most iconic role. And although Kubrick resented the project, it hastened his turn to seek greater independence.

Kubrick probably couldn't have made Lolita had Spartacus not established him as a bankable commodity. I would recommend checking out this film with the caveat that unlike most of Kubrick's career peak films, it feels old fashioned -- it's score is overwhelming and ubiquitous, it's padded with and Intermission and an Entr'acte -- it's long.

And yet its anti-slavery message, although occasionally delivered in a hokey and heavy-handed manner, is compelling and helps this film become more than a relic of a bygone Hollywood era.