Rating: 
Summary: entertaining production that strives at quality
Review: Probably another of Ridley Scott's tributes to kubrick, certainly does not compare to spartacus - again like most films nowadays too much technology and too little attention to the screenplay. The cinematography and Scott's direction carry the film. The fact that Russell Crowe was voted sexiest actor is another sign of the times. Overall, another addition to the line of movies that entertain and not much more.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring with no climax
Review: I thought this was the most boring movie I had ever seen. I fell asleep to it twice. It seemed to move at the pace of 2 miles per hour. I defintely do not recommend this film.
Rating: 
Summary: Gladiator Movie of the Year?????
Review: Intresting thing about this movie is that people either love it or hate it. I found it to be one of the best movies I had seen in a while. Now I'm not saying this becuase i'm a guy and i like gory movies. This movie blew me over. It was brilliant in its mastery of reinacting the life of a gladiator and furthermore it had some of the most powerful speeches and thought provoking ideas that I have heard since braveheart. I give this movie 5 stars and I'm sorry that I couldn't give it 6.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Movie of the Year
Review: Like Braveheart, this movie touches on the idealistic and poetic. The fights are very real and powerful. The movie acurately depicts the cruelty of the slave trade in Roman times. I think this movie is Russell Crowe's best performance
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing film from Ridley Scott
Review: I was very disappointed in this film from Scott. I have liked most of his films. I didn't think the action scenes were that impressive. The first battle, you couldn't see what was going on in it. Russell Crowe's character was never really challenged throughout the film. I did think Crowe did a good job in the film. It was to expected after standout performances in LA Confidential and The Insider. The story just did not draw me in. Everything looked too easy for Crowe's character (I know I am repeating myself here). It is just disheartening when a good director and a good actor get together and they make a mediocre film. A similar film is Braveheart. Braveheart is a much better film than this. That film thrust you into the battle scenes and made you care about William Wallace. That film had heart, while this film seemed cold and distant. I am sure Scott and Crowe will bounce back with their next projects.
Rating:
Summary: TWO AND A HALF STARS
Review: Five stars, five stars, five stars... yeah, yeah, sure. GLADIATOR is as over-rated a movie as was released this year. While it's no BLAIR WITCH PROJECT in that respect, it still gets an insane amount of praise for so ordinary an effort.Yes, Russell Crowe is magnetic (and I guess if you're inclined in that direction, sexy and hunky) and Ridley Scott can still pull off his usual hat tricks (he remains the best director making bad films in the business) but really, this is a hollow effort. But, yes, the gladiatorial scenes are a sight to behold. No doubt about it, Scott is a visual master and the combat scenes are intense and rousing. If only the rest of the film were as vital and entertaining. It's not just that we've seen it all before a million times, it's that it is so so ordinary about the whole thing. The critics grousing about PHANTOM MENACE should have been doing double duty here and I bet they weren't. So, for sure, if you haven't seen GLADIATOR yet, rent it, but buy it only if you, for some silly reason, really love it. If you are looking for some great action scenes and rousing conflict on the field of battle, this is a place to look. But, if you also want to see a great film to go along with it, I think you need to look elswhere. Thanks for your time people.
Rating:
Summary: Unmistakeable Beauty
Review: After experiencing this film for the first time I walked out of the theater with a huge lump in my throat. Such haunting glory, such subdued greatness....it was as if I had been in the Coliseum fighting along side Maximus (Crowe). One cannot begin to explain the pure genius of this motion picture. It brings you to emotianal, physical and pychological climax in less than the first thirty minutes only to bring you back again. Crowe, Phoinex and Neilsen all act with Oscar worthy preformances. Neilsen with her absolute helplessness, Phoinex with his twisted, evil and ambitious potrayal of the emperor Commodus and Crowe with his heart wrenching character Maximus: Father, General, Gladiator, hero. Not only are the actors stunningly beautiful, the visuals are likewise. If you have ever wanted to know what Rome would look like before Attila the Hun, before natural disaster, before collapes, this is your chance. "Gladiator" will take you from a quiet villa in ancient Spain to the over-crowded, energy-packed streets of the greatest empire on earth. With visuals never before attempted and acting that of gods, what is left to stir your senses more? Music. "Gladiator" contains one of the most glorious soundtracks I have ever heard. Hans Zimmer amasses cellos, ancient mandolins and precussion instruments, latin vocalist and his already untouchable talent to create a spine-tingeling score worthy of any award. I especially loved the song played during credits, "Now We Are Free". It truly gave me goosebumps. I don't recomend that you buy this, I command it. "Gladiator" is for anyone who loves action, adventure, romance and characters so deep with emotion you cannot help but watch it again. I have seen this movie four times and every time I come out feeling as though I should not speak or else the soft fog of the moment will break. Buy it. You will love it.
Rating:
Summary: Oh so overrated. ..
Review: Gladiator is far, far less entertaining than the big sword'n'sandal epics from the fifties and sixties. Russel Crowe's Maximus could have been far more imposing as a character than he is now (he spends most of the film as a brooding wimp). Joaquin Phoenix's Commodus is a weak, immature villain who never really poses a major threat to the hero. The story is full of illogical events, the CGI recreation of Rome is dodgy, and the historical context... well, the less said the better. And the fight scenes are shot and edited in such a way that they hurt the spectator's eyes AND it is nigh impossible to make out what is going on (with the exception of the final duel, where the freneticism makes place for more traditional camerawork; unfortunately, it isn't a very suspenseful or exciting one). I'm probably giving this movie one star less than it deserves, but nevertheless I was very, very disappointed. Anthony Mann's Fall Of THe Roman Empire wasn't perfect, but it treated the same historical subject matter in a much better way than this.
Rating:
Summary: It could have been great
Review: Of the film itself, the end is awful. If you want to watch epic battles and duels and plot and everything, watch this film, then turn it off 10 minutes before the end. Dream what should happen, then take the disc out. Put simply, a great film but the ending is so feeble, it completely fooks it up.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Overrated...
Review: If it weren't for the rousing battle scenes and stunning locales, Ridley Scott's half-hearted epic Gladiator would've been a total flop. Gladiator is by no means a bad movie, but as far as a great one? Not even close.Russell Crowe delivers a star making turn as Maximus, a loyal Roman general whose loyality is put to the test when he refuses to follow the orders of the newest emperor (Joaquin Phoenix in a BORING performance). Accused of treason, Maximus' family is killed and he sentanced to die. Of course he escapes and begins his unholy quest for revenge against the new emperor. Gladiator begins with a rousing battle scene and has many to follow, all of the acting credible and the story is undeniably interesting, but there are too many flaws for this one to be considered a masterpiece by any means. Many of the sequences between the battle scenes almost exist solely for filler purposes, they serve to bring the film from one fight scene to the next. There is nothing wrong with this type of film, if it weren't pretending to be something more. Crowe makes for a great action hero, his enemy in this film, Joaquin Phoenix is annoying and sickening. Phoenix is normally a superb actor, but his character in this film acts the part of the cliched Roman Emperor. He kills his father, babbles on and on in scene after scene about NOTHING and even pointlessly lusts after his sister. There is a lot that could've been removed from this film without damaging the story, audiences sometimes think that a long movie automatically makes for a good one. That is not the case here. Gladiator is not a bad film, just boring. Director Scott thinks he's doing a film of more substance than he really has, proof of this comes in the pretentious "death" scene at the finsh. Comparisons to Braveheart are unfair, this is a bloated Hollywood 'epic', not terrible, not very good, and very unmemorable. Whereas Braveheart used gruesome battle scenes to move the story along, Gladiator seems to exist FOR the battle scenes, they are incredible, but to find something else of value in this film is the real challenge. It's hollow, pointless and pretty limp. Another case of Hollywood going through the motions. Some will like it, others will agree with me, but in the end, it's all in the opinion.
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