Rating: 
Summary: Not Oscar-Worthy.
Review: I don't understand how this movie ran away with Best Picture and how Russell Crow's awful acting got an Oscar for this. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was a far more original film that was robbed big time of this category. I thought the story in Gladiator was pretty ordinary and the dialogue was pretty dull. The visual effects of ancient Rome looked so fake i could have made that with my own computer. This is definately Ridley Scott's worst film to date, a real downfall from his days of making classics like Blade Runner and Alien.
Rating: 
Summary: cousinpaco's top action: #6
Review: You know that moment in a movie when something happens that is so cool, you involuntarily sit bolt upright and yell "NICE!!!"?"Gladiator" has more than one of those. Heck, Russell Crowe's double-punch smackdown on Joaquin Phoenix alone is worth the price of this DVD. Obviously, any gladiator-movie worth its salt has to have plenty of combat, and Ridley Scott's film is no disappointment. The pace of the film slows down periodically -- but every twenty minutes or so, a massive fight scene breathes new life (and death) into the picture. It's not a flawless movie, but it's pretty rich in detail for an action epic. The DVD comes fully loaded, so you get plenty of bonus features. It's gratifying to see such a monster action-movie get such prestige treatment.
Rating: 
Summary: Gluteus Maximus
Review: I don't know why Russell Crowe got an oscar for this. His performance was nothing extraordinary. He was just there; part of the scenery. Any actor could have given the same performance. I liked the movie, though. The movie did deserve an oscar; Traffic couldn't even compare.
I must say that I thought Connie Nielson and Joaquin Phoenix did great jobs, and their characters were far more interesting than Maximus. He is the one reason why I think this movie could be disregarded as yet another history/action flick. Because you don't have to watch Gladiator in order to see some hormonal hero strutting around half-dressed. That's almost every big blockbuster movie. However, this seems to be what the people want, or at least what they expect. Crowe's oscar only reinforces the idea that if you don't play some kind of war/medieval hero, (or a tramp, if you are an actress) you don't deserve the time of day. And I guess many people seem to believe that if you come away from this movie thinking " Maximus was good, Commodus was bad" that is a sign of a powerful, thought-provoking film. But there's more to Gladiator than that. I would never recommend a film if that was all I got out of it.
I liked this movie because I found Commodus to be a sympathetic character (they did not overdramatize it, as some will have you believe), and Lucilla had more depth than Maximus, who was only in this film so that the "bad guy" would get his just desserts. I have another title for this film. Deus ex Maximus.
Rating:
Summary: The Phoenix Almost Rises
Review: I wrote a much longer and more detailed of this film once, but They wouldn't print it so I'll just give you the basic conclusion: Joaquin Phoenix's EYES have more life than this entire dreadful film.
Absolutely the worst film I've ever seen, and I've seen thousands.
Rating: 
Summary: This won Best Picture?!?
Review: This has to be one of the very worst films to acquire an Oscar for Best Picture. I haven't seen many of the other contenders in that class -- I hear "The Greatest Show on Earth" is worth avoiding even more -- but this must have been a quirk of how the voting split that year. I figure the Politically Active types split between "Brockovich" and "Traffic," the Art for Art's Sake vote went to "Chocolat," leaving a bare plurality voting for this over "Crouching Tiger..." because it wasn't subtitled. Or subtext'd. My first exposure to this was on video, so perhaps I missed something that's more evident on the big screen. I can't imagine what it would be, though. The battle scenes are impressive in a testostorone-charged way, I guess. The Colosseum is very lifelike, and so is Mr. Crowe. I almost believed that he wanted his warriors to "Unleash hell." (And yes, I recognized that he was a soldier by duty, not desire, and therefore not a kill-em-all type.) He fought well enough in the gladiator scenes, which I suppose is the point... That's as well as I can do for compliments on this. The setup is obvious, the payoff is transparent -- I stopped watching halfway through and I was able to guess 90% of What Happens Next. I didn't care how Maximus plotted his revenge, if Commodus was served with appropriate justice or ... or pretty much anything else. Nobody is interesting enough to be likable. Commodus is almost creepy enough to be disliked, and that's as much of an impression as anything in the film made on me. Just don't bother. If you want a revenge-fueled battle-focused period piece, see The Patriot instead. .... Two stars, because I don't care enough to give it one.
Rating:
Summary: Tedious Maximus
Review: I can't say that I hated this movie. It just didn't particularly engage me. It is a movie that can't decide what it wants to be...is it your typical summer action flick, with lots of blood and gore and special effects, or is it a political thriller, full of scheming, machinations, treachery and betrayal? This movie tries to have it both ways, without success, the result being that it is supremely boring much of the time. It is pretty obvious early on, after a nice big battle scene to open things up, that we have a tried-and-true story of revenge underway. The unbelievably heroic Maximus is betrayed and his family slaughtered by the evil emperor, blah blah blah...it is obvious that a showdown is brewing. So why don't we get to the showdown already? Instead, we get blah blah blah...Marcus Aurelius blathers a bunch of gobbledy-gook and nonsense to Maximus about restoring the Republic (oh sure!)...blah blah blah...we find out that Commodus is evil and corrupt, but all he really ever wanted was his father's love and approval, blah blah blah...the emperor's sister has had the hots for Maximus all of this time, blah blah blah...the senators are frustrated with the emperor's indifference to administrative affairs, blah blah blah....oh god just make it stop. None of this blah blah blah-ing is of any real substance, so you just sit through it, waiting for the next gory fight scene. I enjoy movies that have plenty of dialogue, and some of my favorite movies have not a whit of violence in them. But the massive amounts of dialogue in this movie do nothing to propel the plot forward. It only bogs the movie down. Trying to make the characters multi-dimensional in what is, in essence, a live-action comic book, in fact makes the characters only look all that much more ridiculous. Don't try to make Commodus look "sympathetic" by portraying the conflicted nature of his relationship with his daddy...who cares?!? He is merely a plot device, like so many Shakespearian villains. He does not need to have his motives explained. So don't explain them, again and again. Even the fight scenes left something to be desired. Why not just stick a bunch of cardboard figures in the stand and a stuffed tiger in the arena? The technology certainly exists for making better special effects than this, for crying out loud. When my wife brought the video home a second time I popped it in and started to watch it. Without realizing it at first, I fast-forwarded through one combat scene to the next. Ultimately, I realized that this is truly the proper way to watch this movie. It should take you only about 35 minutes this way. How efficient! Never mind the appalling liberties that the movie took with historical fact; I think we all have come to realize that no movie is going to be particularly faithful to the historical record, especially where Rome is concerned. With movies like this, the viewer is not looking for a history lesson (I hope), but it would be nice to have some decent pacing so that we don't die of boredom between the fight scenes.
Rating:
Summary: glad-i-a-tor!
Review: One piece of advice: If you ask someone their name and they respond with 'Gladiator', you should probably run for the hills because there is a good chance that you will get your sorry carcass kicked up and down the field of battle. The movie was great [I refuse to address the new caeser's infatuation with his sibling...except to say... yuck]. I only wish that we could have seen 'Maximus Decimus Meridius' once again get command of his troops and tear Rome a new one.
Rating:
Summary: crowe is for the birds
Review: Gladiator is a great film, Crowe is acting like he doesnt really care, no emotion from that fat kiwi. Thank goodness Zimmer compensates for his shortcomings.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning DVD
Review: I saw this in the movies and loved it, but on DVD it captured my heart. As the music and movie ran tears brimmed my eyes. The acting is wonderful and the music blended perfectly. I don't care what anyone tells you. Always decide for yourself and do not let anyone decide for you. But believe me this is a splendid movie. Also you get a second DVD with all the deleted scenes. A very nice video/music scene you will like plays "Now We Are Free." You will enjoy this history of the DVD and I believe there's even some secret tricks in this DVD but I don't know what. An enjoyable DVD that is worth your time and effort. Worth your money.
Rating:
Summary: What you expect
Review: It's exactly what you expect to see in a movie.Great shots-beautiful landscapes-action-drama-the fall and rise of a hero-great battles.
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