Flat, uninspiring tale of one of the greatest female leaders of all time, Cleopatra. Fails to capture the magnitude of the historic Egyptian, portraying her as a seductress with a lust for power, and nothing more. Our young Cleopatra is alluring, yet she does not win us over as the manipulative Queen, or Goddess, as she prefers.Billy Zane is the smitten Antony, spellbound by Cleopatra's charms, yet not the strong leader she needed to help her build an empire. Timothy Dalton's Julius Caesar could have been that man, had he not fallen to Brutus' conspiracy. Dalton's performance is one of the better turns on offer, though not by much.The cheap production disappoints, and the constant British accents become very annoying in the middle east. Lacks three key ingredients for a film of this type: a grand score, sweeping cinematography and stunning sets - see "Ben Hur". Not an epic; not anything.Saturday, August 14, 1999 - T.V.

If this book remained faithful to the book then we can only assume that the author was ignorant of history. Mark Anthony never died of injuries obtained in battle as depicted. He died a coward's death by committing suicide and even then, he asked his slave to do it for him. The slave chose to kill himself instead. In the real story Mark Anthony was ashamed by the slave's great valor and decided to copy him. But even in death Mark Anthony was a drunken failure and failed at his own suicide attempt. He cried out for Cleopatra and was taken to her, bleeding. She hauled his litter up on ropes and Mark Anthony died a while later. If you want history don't watch this movie. If you want romantic drivel then you will probably enjoy it!

Cleopatra (1999): Leonor Varela, Timothy Dalton, Billy Zane, Rupert Graves, John Bowe, Nadim Sawalha, Art Malik, Owen Teale, Phillip Quast, Daragh O'Malley, Sean Pertwee, Bruce Payne, Kassandra Voyagis, Indra Ove, Josephine Amankwah, Elisabeth Dermot Walsh, James Saxon, Amina Annabi, Alexandar Francis Lynch...Director Franc Roddam Teleplay..Stephen Harrigan, Anton Diether.Based on the best-selling novel "Memoirs of Cleopatra" by Margaret George, this was a televised miniseries on ABC, released in May of 1999. It starred Leonor Varela as Cleopatra, Timothy Dalton as Julius Caesar and Billy Zane as Marc Antony. At the time it aired on TV, many epic made-for-TV films and series was all the rage. NBC had "The Odyssey" with Armand Asante and "Merlin" with Sam Neil. In following with the Cleopatra history/legend, this is a drama dealing with Cleopatra and her relationship with two powerful men in her attempt to empower Egypt as a force equal to that of the growing Roman Empire. While the 1963 Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor is far better known and more romanticized, this movie portrays Cleopatra as ambitious and power-hungry, sensual but tough and physically strong. Being the late 90's, she does not come off as a bitchy user of men as much as she does a liberated woman not afraid of confrontation and who uses not only her beauty but her brains. There's a scene late in the film in which Cleopatra, aboard one of Antony's ship in that final decisive sea battle, fights her way out of it. That's something that Elizabeth Taylor's more vulnerable Cleo would not have done on film. Leonor Varela is the first black actress to appear in the role of otherwise "white" Cleopatras and they cast her because she has a tan, Arabic/Mediterrenean look that historians believe is closer to the real Cleopatra. She is a wonderful actress and does the role justice. Timothy Dalton as Caesar is miscast in my opinion, yet another British actor in a role full of pomp. But Billy Zane as Antony is terrific. Shot in North Africa, the look of the film is gorgeous and epic. The screenplay is well-written and certainly a lot better than the 1963 film, but this owes to the fact that the script was drawn from a very well-written novel. This Cleopatra is for modern audiences with modern sensibility and with a feminist slant. Also, Varela's performance as Cleopatra is far more human and moving than Elizabeth Taylor's more wooden one. Varela's human touches of nuance and warmth makes her Cleopatra less cold and calculating than previous Cleopatras. In another scene, she feeds her starving people with wheat that had been stored for Roman occupants. Her Cleopatra is one we can feel sorry for and sympathize with, especially when her dreams of a unified Egypt and Rome alliance are thwarted and one by one her dreams are shattered. Her much talked about suicide is not an act of weakness or despair and in this film, it's made out to be a means of escape for her and a way for her to triumph over Octavian her enemy. Rather than being his new conquest and victimized as another Roman captive, she bravely takes her own life. A great movie with high production values, great sets and costumes and music by Trevor Jones who had done music for NBC's "Merlin" and at one time "Excalibur". So if you liked the novel and you are a fan of historical fiction in film, this one is definitely for you. Watch as the drama, passion and sensationalism unfolds as the triumphs and tragedies of Cleopatra Queen of the Nile comes to life.

Well, this wasn't the worst Cleopatra movie ever, but it sucks compared to the book it's based off of. "The Memiors of Cleopatra," is an incredible novel, and this missed most of it. The novel covers Cleopatra's life from the age of 9 and goes up to her last moment, but there is a lot of emotion and wonderfully historical analysis that was missed in this mini film.Also, I enjoyed the fact Cleopatra was a little less stereotypical, but stereotypical nonetheless. Cleopatra was Greek. Cleopatra was a brilliant and smart woman, who knew 9 different languages. They forgot the fact that she had 3 children with Marcus Antonius. So if you want to watch a movie on the real Cleopatra...you might want to wait until someone directs one.