Agora

"Agora’’ represents a genre of movie so increasingly rare — the historical epic of ideas, like “Spartacus’’ or “A Man for All Seasons’’ — that you wish this one were better than it is. It’s still more than watchable thanks to the ministrations of a talented director, Spain’s Alejandro Amenábar, but the togas seem to have brought out the stiff, declamatory earnestness in everyone. High-minded melodrama is never an easy combination to pull off, and this film’s nobler urges — Amenábar wants nothing less than to illustrate the defeat of classical antiquity by early Christianity — struggle with the desire to give us a ripsnorting show.