The Eric Roberts Collection: Cyclops (dir by Declan O’Brien)

Behold the glory that was Rome!

In 2008’s Cyclops, Ancient Rome is a bad CGI village that is being menaced by an even worse CGI cyclops. (The height of the Cyclops literally changes from scene to scene.) After the Cyclops is captures, it’s forced to fight in the gladiatorial games of the decadent Emperor Tiberius (Eric Roberts). Marcus (Kevin Stapleton), a centurion-turned-gladiator, eventually launches his own revolution against the Empire. When you’re fighting against the 15 members of the fearsome Roman army, it helps to a have a monster from Greek mythology on your side. Long live the Roman Republic!

This is an extremely silly movie but it’s hard not to admire the chutzpah it takes to try to recreate the glory of Rome on a tiny budget. It’s not just that the city of Rome looks like a medieval village. It’s also that there appears to only be about fifty citizens of Rome and most of them look like they wandered over from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The film doesn’t work but kudos to the filmmakers for trying in the first place. Not surprisingly, this was a Roger Corman production.

Eric Roberts as a Roman emperor is something that simply needs to be seen to believed. Eric has the haircut and the sinful smile and he gives the thumbs up symbol with the proper theatrical flourish. In the film, Tiberius turns on Marcus after the latter demands that he be given a land grant along with his promotion and I’m on Tiberius’s side as far as that goes. Marcus should have just accepted the promotion without making demands. Tiberius had every right to be miffed and no one plays miffed quite as well as Eric Roberts. Tiberius goes on to plan the state dinner that will celebrate the capture of the Cyclops. Tiberius and his friends will have half-a-boar. Marcus will be given “eggs and greens.” Oh, Tiberius!

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed: