Most critics like Julius Caesar, and they like it for the same reason: Mankiewicz keeps the camera on the actors and stays out of their way. The praise clusters around the cast. Brando’s Mark Antony draws the most comment, admired for bringing something modern to the verse, with Gielgud and James Mason close behind. Several reviews describe the result as a political thriller rather than a costume pageant, and count the absence of spectacle as a virtue.
The reservations are about what the film does not attempt. A number of critics concede it is not cinematically adventurous, and some find the casting uneven beyond the leads. The spread is fairly narrow, with one dissent: The New Yorker finds the whole thing chilly and slow, all elocution and little invention, and, against the general view, thinks Brando and Calhern struggle with the language. Den of Geek, otherwise enthusiastic, notes the sets look artificial.