Netflix users did not hold back in roasting Jada Pinkett Smith and Netflix’s docudrama series, Queen Cleopatra.
IMDb
On IMDb the series has an atrocious 1.1 out of 10 from 42,00 users with the vast majority (94.5%) giving the series the lowest score possible a 1 out of 10.
One user wrote, “It is hard to take this “documentary” seriously when there are errors is in just about every scene. Ancient Egypt existed for three and a half millennia, and the Ptolemaic period of Greek control and its involvement in Roman policies, especially the Roman civil wars is a very specific period. For example no Egyptian was spoken at the court, Greek was spoken.”
The user added, “But getting costumes wrong, getting basic timelines of battles (like Actium) wrong, placing Cleopatra at events we know she was not present at, mixing up things done by Anthony with those done by Octavian and an unending series of errors just makes this impossible to watch. It is clear no experts, or even anyone with a basic knowledge of the history of the time and place was involved, or if they were, their advise was inverted. The dialogue is also laughably childish s is the acting.”
Another gave the series a 1 out of 10 writing, “next? a documentary of Bruce Lee with a non chinese actor ..or a documentary of Mandela with a white or asian actor could be the next politically correct idea of Netflix producers. Already previous historic documentaries of Netflix had 20% non-historical facts, so who cares? History is made by winners (and producers). Right?”
“I was already thinking of cancelling my Netflix subscription. So with that documentary that changes facts to adapt to its own values I believe that I have taken my decision. It promotes more anger than serves any politically correct value. There are a lot of famous and historically real persons of any race or gender that have changed the world for the better. They could show these,” the user concluded.
Another also gave it a 1 out of 10 describing it as “Amateurish Black Feminist Propaganda.” The user then detailed, “Construct a three-part series based on a few grains of truth and huge dollops of critical feminist ideology, and this is what results. It’s actually funny, though unintentionally so, seeing how seriously it takes itself and how it clobbers the viewer over the head with its supposed ‘facts’ such as a eunuch (Pothinus) with a beard? Come on!”
“And tedious – plodding presentations reminiscent of a Sunday school film. Feel sorry for the actors who had to stand there in front of a camera mouthing the inane dialog, and hope they were at least paid for their efforts, because I very much doubt that they will want this to appear on their CVs,” the user concluded. “In sum, it flunks as History and flops as Entertainment.”
Still another user wrote, “If Cleopatra was from another dimension.” The user continued, “Where to begin with the historical inaccuracies… from start to finish the inaccuracies are shoved in your face. Whoever made this series is trying to rewrite history with their own warped fantasies. It almost feels like a twisted fan fiction or if cleopatra was in the multiverse.”
“The sad thing is they are calling this a documentary style series. It’s an insult to Egypt and any historian. I feel this is a disgrace to Cleopatra and her name. It’s a shame because this garbage will probably confuse so many people who watch it and believe it,” the user asserts. “It incredibly unjust to take a historical figure and change them to fit your narrative.”
Another user described the series as, “An American Uses A Colonizing Mindset to Rewrite History.”
The user explained, “As the title says. I am all for diversity in media, including historical fantasy (like Bridgerton), but Cleopatra was not fictional. She was a real person and is a significant cultural icon in Egypt.”
“Generally speaking, films about foreign history should at the very least have someone from that country at the head of production,” the IMDb user opined. “An American forcing their own world view on to another country’s history is as American of a tradition as apple pie (speaking about both the American right and left).”
“In the US the rewriting of history from conservatives is a real threat to society, and something the left has said we need to address. However, now we see rewriting of a foreign country’s history at the expense of diversity. Diversity can be done successfully in so many ways and simply put, this is not it,” the user declared.
Rotten Tomatoes
On Rotten Tomatoes the series has maybe the worst Audience Score rating of all time with a 2% Rotten score.
Scarlet B gave the series a 1 out of 5 stars writing, “I just watched it and it was soooo bad all I can do is laugh and cry cause how inaccurate it was. They made Cleopatra Vll a warrior first of all she wasn’t a warrior and also I forgot on how many times they said their opinion and ideas about how Cleopatra Vll when it supposed to be historically accurate.”
The K also gave the series a .5 out of 5. The user wrote, “Absolute Dribble. James was a great actor, but nothing rings true… and since it’s a ‘docu-drama’ it essentially is being marketed as truth. But, sadly it’s far from, both in parts relating to Cleopatra’s sister and also they ignored that it’s considered fact that she is Macedonian, not African as she was a daughter of the Ptolemaic Dynasty.”
“The mere fact of being classified as a documentary and not providing a real image attached to what science says, causes it to deserve the lowest rating,” Hector G wrote after giving the series a .5 out of 5.
Seokjinnies U gave Queen Cleopatra a .5 out of 5 as well. The Rotten Tomatoes user wrote, “f you like bad acting this is your thing! I love historical documentaries, but this was painful to watch last night. Also, the narrator was awful, no idea why they picked someone who sounded so nail-grading that it ruined anything going on. A majority of the scenes where just poorly written. Also, the scenes did not merge well with all the academic people speaking. There was NO FLUIDITY to the scenes at all. Poorly done. This could have been great, but I do not know who made this, but they should be fired.”
Mas R gave the series 1 out of 5 and wrote, “A series that is not worth watching because it deviates from historical sources. Very disrespectful to history and belittling a character in history.”
“This is not a documentary it is a soap opera,” wrote Victor C, who gave the series a .5 out of 5.
Dorian P wrote, “I am a fan of the REAL and HISTORICAL Cleopatra, this show is a non sense and should never have been funded…” He gave the series a .5 out of 5.
Durvis E. wrote, “This is not a documentary but a fictional drama. Just watched the first part Rivals to see how it would be. It lost my attention, a heaping nothing burger. It is by far the worst drivel in the historic facts and comparable to a half-hazard mess for someone who enjoys documentaries, and history books of different themes from around the world. MagellanTV or any other channel is far better in documentaries, unlike this fictional mess.” He scored the series .5 stars out of 5.
Randy M gave the series a .5 out of 5. He wrote, “Besides the whole race controversy, it is very inaccurate in multiple aspects of Cleopatra as a character. It feels like made her black and then didn’t know what to do beyond that. They released the trailer and got what they wanted. It is clear no care was put into the actual show.”
“I do not understand how this is a documentary, it is a fictional drama,historically innacurate,” wrote Josip P. The user scored it .5 out of 5.
The official synopsis reads, “From Executive Producer Jada Pinkett Smith comes a documentary series exploring the lives of prominent and iconic African Queens. This season will feature Queen Cleopatra, the world’s most famous, powerful, and misunderstood woman — a daring queen whose reputed beauty and romances came to overshadow her real asset: her intellect. Cleopatra has become an icon, endlessly embellished and rewritten through history. Now our series re-assesses her fascinating story, her political brilliance, as well as questions surrounding her heritage, which remains the subject of debate.”
Queen Cleopatra is currently streaming on Netflix.
What do you make of these audience scores and these audience reviews torching the series?