Gladiator DVD > Reviews > Gladiator

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	Great film, extras
Disadvantages:	none

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator.

Yes, I am sure everyone out there knows the story, has seen the film, has seen the DVD and has read the reviews, still I thought I would share my pennies worth with you all!

Directed by Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner), Gladiator is the story of Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) who is the general of the Roman Empire, one who controls the respect of the entire army and the people. After a huge battle in Germania, which starts this epic, Maximus is met by
Emperor Marcus Aurelious who comes to congratulate Maximus and asks him to become Caesar when the time comes.

All well and good, but the Emperor's son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) is obviously upset he has not been chosen to be and when he learns he will not be Caesar, he murders his own father and takes on the job, before Maximus has been announced as Caesar.

The new Emperor orders Maximus to be executed, but he manages to single handedly wipe out his executors and escape. Having escaped, Maximus rides through the desert but is he eventually taken into slavery and sold off as a gladiator.

Maximus' owner is Proximo (Oliver Reed) and when Maximus has proved himself in many battles, Proximo decides to packs him and the other top gladiators to Rome to fight for glory and freedom! In case you haven't seen it I will stop now and let you find out the rest for yourself!

Gladiator is truly an epic on a movie and the plot is fantastic, the description above only covers the first half of the movie. Sure it is a long movie, but you never look down at your watcha nd say 'is it over yet??' because the story the actors and the music keep you enthralled.

The performances of all the actors are great, especially Russell Crowe as Maximus himself. The computer stuff is also done really well as we get to see ROme in all its glory with the coliseum and people cheering.The action scenes are spectacular and the gladiatorial battles are intense, gory, and stunning.

Overall the movie has amazing action sequences and a terrific story to boot, which all makes for a great movie. Since this is on DVD, the fun doesn't stop there as...

The Extras
The Gladiator package comes with 2 Cds so the first disc is dedicated to the main feature whilst the second holds the extra stuff.
The contains:

-Eleven deleted scenes
-Seven minute montage of additional unused footage that isn't part of the deleted scenes.
-The "HBO First Look" special.
-The Learning Channel special on Gladiators.
-Storyboards for scenes included in the film
-Concept art.
-Trailers
and... A Chicken Run trailer that spoofs the Gladiator trailer (it's an Easter Egg which you locate by pressing Left on your remote in the Trailers and TV Spots menu)

With all of this in one package you can't really complain as you have one great film and great extras too, which all in all result in a great DVD.