Gladiator DVD > Reviews > Another great Ripley Scott film

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Outstanding
Soundtrack	Outstanding

Advantages:	Awesome Epic, Great Battle Scenes
Disadvantages:	Annoying in Parts, Quite Long

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Technical Details

Actors

Russell Crowe ; Joaquin Phoenix ; Connie Nielsen ; Oliver Reed ; Richard Harris ; Derek Jacobi ; Djimon Hounsou ; David Schofield ; Sven-Ole Thorsen ; David Hemmings ; Ralf Moeller ; Tomas Arana

Director: Ridley Scott

Certificate: 15 years and over

Filmed: Year 2000

Duration: 2 hours and 44 minutes (approx)

About the Film (Note: this does give away a lot of the film, so be warned!):

Ok, now this is an Epic film from Ridley Scott. The story is about ROME. Roman General Maximus (played by Russel Crowe) is the leader of the Roman Army and the film starts with General Maximus in Germany fighting the last of the enemies of Rome. His sole aim is now to retire and return to his wife and son and become a farmer.

Unfortunately ROME still has a requirement for him, the Caeser wants to return power back to the Senate due to the corruption in Rome and does not trust his own son to rule.

Therefore Caesor's son kills his father and tries to kill General Maximus who escapes. As a revenge the new Caeser kills his wife and son and General Maximus is forced into slavery.

He then becomes a gladiator where his prowess in the arena eventually leads him to Rome and a vengeful showdown with the new Roman Emperor.

Quotes:

What We Do In Life Echoes In Eternity. - Roman General Maximus (Russell Crowe)

Those who are about to die, salute you - Greetings from the Gladiators to the Roman Ceasor

My Opinion:

OK, now this is truly another epic film, it is kinda the new Hollywood remake of Spartacus, and although it is good, it does not really compare to this excellent original epic.

Now the beginning of the film has some absolutely excellent fight scenes as the Roman Army takes on the Germanic hordes. Personally this is still my favourite part of the film. You have one glorious battle and thereafter there is no really great battle scenes (although there are some great individual gladiator scenes). If you are looking for a complete film with loads of battle scenes then you will be disappointed with this film, as after the first it is more about single one on one fights.

Now then the Gladiator fights, these are quite graphic, you get to see blood flow and people being killed and arms chopped off, so is quite realistic and good if you are into that kinda thing. You will not be disappointed with these fight scenes I promise. In one scene Russel Crowe takes on six gladiators and kills them all in one good battle.

Ok, what next, the general story is very good. You are basically following the story of General Maximus, his fall from power and his fight back to and revenge on the Caeser who took everything away from him. I must admit that you do get kinda annoyed with Russel Crowe (who is very good and does a good job) but he is irritating in parts in this film.

The characters, now General Maximus is a good character, although as I said above can be annoying. The new Caeser is good, he plays his weak evil character brilliantly and I do not think that they could have picked a better actor. The rest are really sidekicks to the main two actors although Ceasers sister is also good as she does anything to survive and live.

What else is there to say about this film, there is a great ending with a great final battle scenes. The filming is absolutely excellent with Rome remade and shown off in all its glory. The colleaseum is just brilliant and Director Scott really does an excellent job here.

All in all I thought this film was really good and it is indeed an epic. However there still seems to be something missing. It does not quite match up to old glorious films like Spartacus or The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire although it is still good. I cannot quite put my finger on what is missing but it is worth watching.

I would recommend that if you like epic films, then definetely watch this one. Note that it is based in Roman Times, and therefore is not a modern film, thus if you only like new and present century films then stay away.

Also if you do not like Blood and Guts then I would stay away from this film as it is quite blood filled and gruesome.

Watch this on a wide screen TV with surround sound and you will enjoy it.

Verdict:: 3 out of 5