Cyclops (2008 film)

Plot

The film is set in long-ago Rome during the reign of Emperor Tiberius Caesar. In the countryside, a group of travelers come across some sheep and kill some for food. They are interrupted by their owner, a ferocious cyclops, the last of his kind, which kills them all but one who escapes back to Rome. There he sends word to the Emperor that a cyclops has been sighted. He sends his best commander Marcus Romulus (played by Kevin Stapleton) to capture the mankiller. Though it costs him some of his men, Marcus succeeds and takes the cyclops back to Rome. Emperor Tiberius needs a new beast for his circus. When he sees how much attention the cyclops attracts, the emperor decides to use him instead of expensive lions.

A group of defiant slaves learn they are about to become cyclops fodder. They flee but in spite of all efforts the fugitives are caught rather soon. Although Marcus leads the contingent which captures them, he is against slavery and argues with the emperor's main consultant Falco (Craig Archibald). The infuriated Tiberius Caesar punishes Marcus for his insubordination by sporting him as a gladiator. Marcus does well in the arena and discovers he can teach the cyclops words and simple ideas while the swift giant is in his cell. Finally the emperor promises the cyclops freedom in return for killing Marcus. Yet the cyclops decides otherwise and kills the emperor, only to be killed in return by Falco. Marcus avenges the cyclops and becomes the liberator of Rome.

Cast