Rise Of Empires: Ottoman (2020) Mini Series Review

Rise Of Empires: Ottoman (2020) Mini Series Review 

 This show has recently premiered on Netflix and I have an interest in war and Empires so I decided to give this mini series a watch and this is my review of it. The premise of the series sees a young new Sultan attempt to take over a major Roman City and start his ascension to a true world power. This is accompanied by interviews from experts that give context about what the historical significance is of some of these events. 

Main Character

The series focuses on Sultan Mehmed of the Ottoman Empire and I really liked his character, he is the character we learn the most about in this show and I actually cared about his ascension to the top of the Ottoman Empire. I also found it interesting seeing the pressure that he is under as this conquest begins and drags on and you really see the different sides of his character as the show progresses. 

Supporting Characters

The supporting characters were mostly interesting aswell, both the Roman Emperor and the Catholic Mercenary leader have really good arcs on the show and their characters go on a real journey throughout the show. Also even though the Ottomans are the main focus of the show, it does a really good job of showing the conquest from their point of view and the intrigue that comes with it. I also liked the story of The head advisor to The Sultan as you see the political debate between him and The Sultan and it creates intrigue to who is in the right and who has the better strategy.

Story

As mentioned before the main characters all have really satisfying and interesting arcs about them that really shows the moral shades of grey of war. There aren't really clear heroes and villains as you can see both points of view and see the reasons for both sides to need to win this war. However, I felt there were some lessar stories especially involving the female characters that just weren't that interesting and weren't given enough screen time for you to really care. 

Script

The script is good with some decent dramatic dialogue and well acted scenes, though, due to some of the thick accents I didn't feel like this was the strongest script in the world as I sometimes found it hard to understand the actors but for the most part they got there point across in a decent way. 

Style

The style of this show looks great, the action scenes are truly epic and feel as good as shows like Game Of Thrones and films like The Lord Of The Rings. They are brutal but easy to follow and appropriate for the show that you are watching. But we must now talk about the format of the show, I kind of wished this had just been a fantasy series and got rid of the documentary style that goes with it. Yes some of the context is quite interesting but it breaks the flow of the story and sometimes just feels unneccessary and even though Charles Dance was a great choice of Narrator there were times when I felt like he wasn't needed and the show could have advanced organically.

Overall

Overall this is a good show, if you are interested in the history of Empires and conquest then this should be one you put at the top of your list, for me there were a few things mentioned that holds it back from being a great show but at 6 episodes it is an interesting and entertaining watch. 

Rating - 7/10