It seems as if the folks at DreamWorks could not decide whether they wanted to remake "Ben Hur," "Spartacus," or "The Fall of the Roman Empire," so they decided to remake all three. They took two awesome scripts and one mediocre screen play, stuck them in a blender, and the resulting concoction has
become the better-than-average "Gladiator." It borrows most heavily from the mediocre "Fall of the Roman Empire" in terms of characters and basic plot,
but quite a bit of influence from "Ben Hur" and "Spartacus" can easily be noted.

Many find the gladiatorial contests of ancient Rome to be rather savage and brutal; but you have to give the Romans a break, in that Hollywood, video games and ice hockey had not yet been invented. What else is there to do for entertainment other than watch a bunch of strangers poke and stab each other with sharp objects? Sure, Playstation II has better blood & gore graphics, but several centuries of echnological advancement will do that for you. In the old days, the blood and gore of the arena was all that was available. A footnote for this was that during the time of Caligula there is record of an estimated 90,000 people killed in seven weeks of Games at the Colosseum.

Anyone who has seen "Ben Hur," "Spartacus" and "The Fall of the Roman Empire" has already seen this movie. There's no surprises or suspense, just lots more scenes of people being decapitated and/or disemboweled. It's amazing what special effects artists and CGI have been able to do to help bring brutality into a far more realistic light than in the past --chalk up another great moment for Hollywood.

Ridley Scott is one of the few directors who the word "genius" sticks to like glue. You've seen what this guy can do, and do better than most anyone else. For the movie "Gladiator", Scot goes all out. He gets the BEST actors, the best set and costume designers, and the best composer, then puts it all together and creates a tremendous feast for the eyes & ears. There are many great performances all throughout this picture, and the camera work and art direction are absolutely top notch.

The actors and the performances they give are far too good for a film of such tripe. Of particular note is the performance of Lucilla by Connie Nielsen. The film is worth the price of admission (or the price of the DVD) just to see this woman's face light up the screen and give the over used theme of blood vengeance such dignity, poise and grace. Lucilla is by far the most interesting character of the film, for she is the only one who goes through a process of transformation by means reflection and examination, rather than by forced external entanglements. The characters of Commodus and Maximus could have been easily played by cardboard cut-outs with the words "Bad Guy" and "Good Guy" stenciled on each. What you see of Commodus and Maximus in the first ten seconds of film is what you see in their final scenes, there is no change or awakening in these two guys. But Lucilla rewards us with an interesting sort of redemption that makes a rather predictable film worth watching. As Ridley Scott himself said of Ms. Nielsen: "She can rule my empire anytime."