Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Attila's feats in the Western and Eastern Roman Empires with a lot of historical incorrectness . This Attila" (2001) miniseries by Dick Lowry boasts a good cast , such as Gerard Butler as Attila the Hun , Powers Boothe as Aetius , Simmone Mackinnon as Ildico and Red Rogers as Valentinian . It deals with Attile from when in childhood he saw how his his parents were killed , as well as his kingdom , until death , and is set during the waning days of Roman Empire , as the barbarian Huns are making their way toward Europe . A valiant warrior named Attila (Gerard Butler) violently assumes Hun leadership confronting his brother Bleda (Tommy Flanagan) . But this is not enough for him , Attila seeks to create an empire and he will stop at nothing to accomplish it . In an attempt to quell a Hun invasion , ambitious Roman General Flavius Aetius (Powers Boothe) attempts to form an alliance with the eastern Roman emperor Theodosius (Tim Curry) and Visigoth King Theodoric (Liam Cunningham) scheming against their mutual enemy . While Attile attempts to march against Rome but this plan backfires , and it soon becomes clear that a violent confrontation between all three armies awaits . Against the ravaging hordes of Attila stood a warrior's might and a people's faith! . Against his ruthless pagan lusts , the power of a woman's love!This is a spectacular TV series full of historic inaccuracy and being well starred Gerard Butler as Attila . It results to be an epic adventure yarn set in 5th-Century about the chieftain Attila the Hun who joins the warring clans under his banner , as he was a leader of the Hunnic Empire , a tribal confederation consisting of Huns , Ostrogoths , and Alans among others , on the territory of Central and Eastern Europe , while Roman Empire is bristling under the leadership of cunning General Aetius and of the incompetent Caesar Valentinian . This spectacular movie contains action , breathtaking battles , thrills , romance , hokey historical events and the crowed scenes of the Huns are impressively made . Big production design , lavishly produced , brilliant photography and rousing soundtrack as you'd expect from a big-budgeted TV movie at the time . There takes place a fictitious battle of wits and wills between Attila/Gerard Butler and Aetius/Powers Boothe . Gerard Butler dominates with his bravery this historical adventure , while Valentiniano , being grumpily performed by an overacting Reg Rogers . Great support cast provide some solid secondary interpretations such as : Alice Krige , Liam Cunningham , Kirsty Mitchell , Jonathan Hyde , Steven Berkoff , Tommy Flanagan and Andrew Pleavin as Orestes . Colorful and glimmer cinematography by Steven Fierberg . Evocative as well as thrilling musical score by Nick Glennie-Smith . The motion picture was professionally directed by TV series expert , Dick Lowry, though it has some flaws and historical mistakes . The picture is partially based on historical events about Attila , Marciano , Valentiniano , Pulcheria and emperor Teodosio . During his reign , Attila was one of the most feared enemies of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires . He crossed the Danube twice and plundered the Balkans, but was unable to take Constantinople . His unsuccessful campaign in Persia was followed in 441 by an invasion of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire , the success of which emboldened Attila to invade the West. He also attempted to conquer Roman Gaul (modern France) , crossing the Rhine in 451 and marching as far as Orleans before being defeated at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains . He subsequently invaded Italy , devastating the northern provinces , but was unable to take Rome . As Attila marches across Empire to Rome and things look bleak for the weakened imperial forces . Emperor Valentinian III sent three envoys , the high civilian officers Gennadius Avienus and Trigetius , as well as the Bishop of Rome Leo I , who met Attila at Mincio in the vicinity of Mantua and as the conqueror had an awe of the power of the Christians' God , he obtained from him the promise that he would withdraw from Italy and negotiate peace with the Emperor . Finally , Aecio vanquished Attile in Chalons . He planned for further campaigns against the Romans but died in 453 . After Attila's death his close adviser Ardaric of the Gepids led a Germanic revolt against Hunnic rule, after which the Hunnic Empire quickly collapsed .Other films dealing with this historical character are the followings : ¨Attila¨(1953) Pietro Francisci with Anthony Quinn , Sofia Loren and Henry Vidal as general Aecio . ¨Sign of the pagan¨(1954) by Douglas Sirk with Jack Palance , Jeff Chandler , Ludmilla Tchérina , Moroni Olsen . And ¨The Nibelungos , vengeance of Siegfried¨ (1967) by Harald Reinl with Herbert Lom as Attila .

I'm getting rather tired of the one sided views of Attila and Hungarians, especially by people who don't anything about either topics. Do your research before you start yapping.For one, there is no real proof that Hungarians are Asian based, and the historical accounts of Attila were more than likely slanted, and not objective portrayals. As for being a barbarian, it's a matter of perspective, there are things that the Roman Empire did that were barbaric, but no one seems to poo poo on them.IT is a Hollywood movie and there inaccuracies but comments by other members here are plain farcical.

You can like this film a lot but you have to be either a woman because only they can spend four hours watching clothes and men or you have to be 15 years old who think anything big is good. This movie has no connection with the historical character Attila. After half an hour I realized my mistake and started fast forwarding the film. I think I finished this film in 1:45 minutes and read about the real character on wikipedia. Its funny that people found this movie great, epic drama etc etc. Its a cheap entertainment for people who cant even see historical foreigners as foreigners, they would rather have their own people act like Mongolians. I am waiting for the day when Hollywood make a film on martin Luther king with Tom cruise as Martin Luther king and peter 'O tool as Bayard Rustin. I'm sure Americans will love it. Its funny to read the reviews. People wrote how sexy and good looking Gerry is. How mindlessly can people watch TV? Still I will ask all history freaks to watch it because this film has so many mistakes that you end up reading the whole profile of Attila. The man was simply a barbarian. watch this film as his cartoon caricature and read about him. Barbarian bastard. 2/10

I have not seen this film, but intend to. I notice some comments about Attila and how in this film he was portrayed as not being the truly bad person that "historical fact" believes him to be. Perhaps this film portrayed him more accurately. He certainly was a warrior, and likely very fearless and when he needed to be. He was a great leader for his people, and not the monster that history portrays him to be. For those of you who are now interested in knowing a bit more about Attila, read http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/attila1.html this short report by a contemporary Greek writer, Priscus describes a man very different than many of the other detractors of this great leader, who was beloved by his nation. I have read stories by historians who said that the Huns in Attilas's time were so primitive they ate their meat raw., etc. etc.