YMMV / Quo Vadis

• Complete Monster: Tigellinus is a prefect of the Praetorian Guard and Nero's right-hand man who follows every Nero's order without question, no matter how immoral or cruel. In fact, Tigellinus likes to use Nero's mental instability as a way to get him to give an immoral order so that Tigellinus could enact it. Tigellinus likes to pick beautiful Christian women for Nero so that Nero could use them as his sex slaves. When Tigellinus finds out Nero has a fantasy of burning Rome so history could write poems about him, Tigellinus incites Nero to actually order this, which Tigellinus and his soldiers happily carry out. Afterwards, Tigellinus and Nero frame Christians for the fire, resulting in Christians being rounded up en masse and thrown into the arena where they are brutally killed in many different ways. When Tigellinus finds out his friend, the philosopher Chilon, has converted to Christianity, Tigellinus has the latter's tongue ripped out.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Ursus, the Gentle Giant family servant of Lygia, who ended up being so popular with audiences that Hollywood gave him his own movie.
  • Petronius, for the virtue of being a supreme Gentleman Snarker and the Only Sane Man in Nero's circle. Also for his Dying Moment of Awesome in the film, which manages to be awesome, funny and tear-jerkering at the same time.
• Moment of Awesome: Ursus wrestling down a bull, while Lygia is tied to the back of the beast.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Nero crosses it when he burns Rome to sate his ego.
  • Poppaea crosses it when she suggests the Christians as scapegoats, out of spite for Marcus.
• Special Effects Failure: While undoubtedly impressive for the time, modern eyes may spot lots of obvious blue-screening, particularly during the chariot battle.

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