"Actor: Kate Steavenson Payne"

• Attila the Hun | DVD | (04/03/2002) from £13.80   |  Saving you £4.18 (38.67%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Men Followed. Women Loved. Rome Trembled. Two worlds collide along with the two men who embody the values and essence of these worlds. Attila King of the Huns (Gerard Butler) is a visionary who sees more in his people than they see in themselves. While the Huns are content to plunder and extort the surrounding nations Attila looks beyond to the possibility of an empire and new world order. Roman General Flavius Aetius (Powers Boothe) embodies the best and worst of Rome in the final years of her existence. He is motivated by one overriding goal: Rome must continue to rule the world. Two different visions of destiny held by the two strongest men of the century; these conflicts are at the heart of 'Attila the Hun'.

• Attila The Hun | DVD | (04/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  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