Straight out of the American television movie school of historical thought, Attila the Hun is a glossy, at times long and often ridiculous re-telling of one of the great stories of Ancient Rome. How much of it is historically accurate is debatable--much of the action is ludicrously far fetched--and the image that most of us have of Attila is quite different to the bare-chested, longhaired reject from an 80s soft rock band that is presented here.
The film does have its own slightly warped charm, though. The storyline is surprisingly complex, involving plots and counter plots, and the movie does exhibit a sense of epic somewhat in the vein of Gladiator, but is sadly lacking the budget, style or talent. The acting is awful (as befits anything that stars Steven Berkoff) and reduces the political machinations of Rome to little more than Dynasty in togas. Gerrard Butler is a fine actor--as he proved in the recent TV drama The Jury--but is woeful here, delivering his lines in a bizarre trans-Atlantic Scottish accent. At three hours it's way too long, too. There does remain something strangely compelling about Atilla the Hun, though you'll find more reliable facts about Roman history in an Asterix book. --Phil Udell
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
Bloody awful! It's nothing but a period drama with togas and furs (and a bad one at that). The acting is poor, the historical accuracy is appalling, the battle scenes make me cringe and Attila might as well have been played by Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn in Lord Of The Rings).
Truly bad, although I watched this with anticipation. The politics portayed are shocking, the death of Attila is attributed to Aetius (contrary to ANY historians beliefs), the battle scenes with the Romans using their pila (bendy javelins...... more info
swoon :) Definitley one for Gerard Butler groupies. Not 100% about historical accuracy, but honestly, who is paying attention to facts when Mr Butler is on the screen? Wish he would pillage my town...
Finally the true story of Attila (Despite a few mistakes). Attila the hun is the first attempt to bring the story of the huns and their conflicts with the romans to the big screen as accurate as it can be. This is ofcourse a direct to video release but u understand what i mean. There were mistakes like the following:
1) Theodosius II was already dead in 450 and marcian was the emperor of the east by the time attila died (454).
2) Gala placidia died also in 450 in rome and did not survived Aetius who was trully murdered my vallentinian III in september... more info
The finctional hun... Attila the Hun is a shadowy character in history. This is primarily due to the fact that the Huns and other peoples allied with and subject to them left little by way of written documentation. Most of what we know comes through Roman Imperial sources; even the legends that originated beyond the borders of the Eastern and Western Imperial lands were transcribed (and no doubt modified in the process) by the writers to suit their world view, if not particular political intentions. Much of the legendary... more info
