Rating: Summary: Heroic, Graphic and Poetic Review: Gladiator has been hailed as a modern version of Spartacus. I agree with that but it is so much more. We have the honor to follow the life of Maximus as he directs soldiers in country conquerings to his unjust imprisonment and his role as a gladiator in Rome. This movie is great for couples to see together. It is not just a movie fit for guys who love blood and guts but instead it is also very poetic and moving. I believe in some respects women would like this movie just as much if not more than guys would.
Rating: Summary: A Landmark DVD Review: If you are interested in movies about the ancient world, this is a sure bet to grab your interest from beginning to end. The story is engaging, while the acting throughout is as superb as the film is graphically violent. This film truly brings ancient Rome to life, and while there is much violence, the few peaceful scenes are quite powerful in their own right. This landmark 2 set-DVD truly represents the full potential of the DVD medium, leaving most of the competition in the dust. There are numerous extras which are a treasure chest of information and insight to anyone interested in the making of Gladiator. The sound and visuals are the best I have ever heard or seen on any DVD that I own. I only wish that all the films on DVD displayed half the quality of this one--too many of them are little more than a video tape on disc. Not so with Gladiator; if you don't own this one yet, buy it, if only to see what DVD technology is fully capable of doing.
Rating: Summary: For once, I wasn't annoyed... Review: ...when my boyfriend convinced me to see a movie using his Patented No Argument Reason: "You'll like it! It's historically accurate!" He knows I hate bad history movies. Gladiator's depiction of the Germanic tribes (my specialty) was quite good, and the rest of it was fairly dead-on. Most importantly, this is an entertaining movie. The DVD is well worth buying for the behind-the-scenes extras, and as for Russell Crowe...I won't say what I'm thinking in case my boyfriend reads this!
Rating: Summary: Awesome Review: THE action movie of summer 2000. DVD is awesome as well. You won't be disappointed with big sound, big scenes, big action, blood gore and excitement.Gladiator is longer than some other movies, and is not appropriate for children. ENJOY!
Rating: Summary: Best movie since the godfather Review: the script was great the acting was great it was a great movie Russel crowe was unbeliveable
Rating: Summary: Spectacle - but don't we want more than that? Review: I like the movie. It has stars in it in the old fashioned sense of the word. Mr Crowe only seems to get better. Joachim Phoenix was a revelation - but the Devil always has the best tunes. I don't think I can remember Richard Harris being better since "The Field". Connie Nielsen is so beautiful. But the great acting comes from the late Oliver Reed. The movie was a fitting last movie for him. The movie looks great - it is literally (how I hate that word), ....spectacular. But so were the games themselves - pure spectacle. And I am afraid that I want something more than simple visual thrills ( even though you get those in spades ). The movie is weakened as soon as Maximus reveals his identity to Commodus - which happens way too soon. Then the movie becomes completely incredible from that point. Because all the Emperor would have done on learning his old enemy was still alive is have him killed. No one would have questioned that. He was Emperor. He had the Praetorian Guards. No one would have publicly questioned the poisoning of a lowly gladiator. But of course, that would not make for such an enjoyable filmic experience.
Rating: Summary: Watch Braveheart and Ben_Hur instead Review: The Oscars have sold out. This is just a copy of Braveheart. Anyone who saw "Quills" knows that Geoffrey Rush's performance was astondingly better than anything in this movie. Between Gladiator and Titanic, the Acadamy has lost all credibility.
Rating: Summary: Simply, the best ever Review: Gladiator is a one-of-a-kind movie, not to be missed for ANYTHING!!! Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix put on a tale of epic proportions. Two men desperately struggle for power as they try to tear each other to apart. Ridley Scott and crew do an outstanding job in recreating the shear power of the Roman empire and it's beginnings to an end. Connie Nielsen is stuck rite in the middle of the intense rivalry, brothering Phoenix and loving Crowe. Maximus (Crowe), the loved general, is finished with war in Germania as his valiant army finishes off the last of the opposing threat. Maximus seeks a peaceful return home to his farm, where he left his wife and son 4 years ago. Times change as the current emperor passes onward into Alesium. Phoenix orders the death of Maximus and his family. To bad only part of his wish is carried out as Maximus escapes just in time to see the aftermath of his family's death. Forced into slavery Maximus becomes a basically a target for killing in the arena. Maximus does not stay in the arena for long. The new emperor has decieded to host a series of games in his late father's honor. Maximus is flushed right into the center of Rome, where he gains the peoples respect. Using that as his only defense from Phoenix killing him, Maximus manages to become the Savior Of Rome. Gladiator is a force not to be reckoned with. As each second passes a chill will race down your spine and then a warmth will race back up it, as you are thrown into the sand of the Colleseum. Scott, Crowe, Phoenix, Nielsen all names known widely now because of this one spectacular feature.
Rating: Summary: Cheesy at Best Review: The only things that saved this movie from mediocrity were the acting qualities of Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix as well as some of the excellent editing achieved in some of its scenes -- particularly the initial battle scenese with the Goths and in some of the gladiator scenes when in Rome. Otherwise a historically inaccurate depiction with set designs resembling Ceasars in Las Vegas than Rome in the distant past.
Rating: Summary: Extreme politics versus ethics Review: An interesting film on the Roman empire, but in fact on any political system. A Roman general is victorious against Germania, and the emperor decides to give him his power, thus depriving his own son of the throne, in order for this general to reinstate the Senate into supreme power, hence to reinstate the Republic in Rome. The son of the emperor kills his father in due time to be crowned the new emperor, and then orders the death of the general, and his family. But the soldiers decide not to kill him. He is sold as a slave and he becomes a gladiator who will eventually trap the emperor (the son of course) into a one-on-one fight in the Coliseum. He wins and thus is able to seize power and to give it back to the Senate, just before dying. What happens next is pure speculation. The film is interesting because it mixes personal levels and political levels. Love is present due to the general's love for his family, his destroyed family, and for the old emperor's daughter. This love motivates him into obeying the late emperor and avenging his death as well as the deaths of his wife and son. It shows that a man has to resist any suicidiary trend or desire, no matter how low he falls, because with mental strength one can always come back and impose justice, no matter how hard he may suffer, but also no matter how hard it may be on his friends and relatives, because people in power are ready to kill anyone to retain their power. That is the Roman context. But have things really changed ? Maybe the killing, the destroying of political obstacles for the powerful is no longer essentially performed in blood but rather in social and economic terms. An interesting reflexion on politics and its « shortcomings » or « drawbacks ». Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
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