Gladiator [2000 film]

A Roman general becomes a slave gladiator.

Much of the movie is boring. The first hour or so is slow but promising, but then out of nowhere the main character is captured by a slave trader and it's like a completely different movie. The second movie would have made a great action movie - there's some very fun, badass fight choreography, and the story is too absurdly simple to justify anything else - but whenever it tries to be more (which is most of the time), it gets extremely hackneyed. The plot is obvious and recycled, the dialog is painfully corny, and the characters feel like they've been re-written by committee.

I loved this film so much I saw it three times in theaters and then naturally bought the DVD. I don't know exactly why I loved this film so much. I won't make a claim it's one of the great films of all time. But I thought Joaquin Phoenix and Russell Crowe were great in their roles, and I loved the visuals. I loved to play that scene where we first see Rome from above again and again. And let's face it, even though it was horrible as history, I just loved reveling in an epic film with a larger than life hero fighting not just for his life but to restore the republic and liberty with it.

Early 2000s classic. ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED???

Amazon.com essential video
A big-budget summer epic with money to burn and a scale worthy of its golden Hollywood predecessors, Ridley Scott's Gladiator is a rousing, grisly, action-packed epic that takes moviemaking back to the Roman Empire via computer-generated visual effects. While not as fluid as the computer work done for, say, Titanic, it's an impressive achievement that will leave you marveling at the glory that was Rome, when you're not marveling at the glory that is Russell Crowe. Starring as the heroic general Maximus, Crowe firmly cements his star status both in terms of screen presence and acting chops, carrying the film on his decidedly non-computer-generated shoulders as he goes from brave general to wounded fugitive to show more stoic slave to gladiator hero. Gladiator's plot is a whirlwind of faux-Shakespearean machinations of death, betrayal, power plays, and secret identities (with lots of faux-Shakespearean dialogue ladled on to keep the proceedings appropriately "classical"), but it's all briskly shot, edited, and paced with a contemporary sensibility. Even the action scenes, somewhat muted but graphic in terms of implied violence and liberal bloodletting, are shot with a veracity that brings to mind--believe it or not--Saving Private Ryan, even if everyone is wearing a toga. As Crowe's nemesis, the evil emperor Commodus, Joaquin Phoenix chews scenery with authority, whether he's damning Maximus's popularity with the Roman mobs or lusting after his sister Lucilla (beautiful but distant Connie Nielsen); Oliver Reed, in his last role, hits the perfect notes of camp and gravitas as the slave owner who rescues Maximus from death and turns him into a coliseum star. Director Scott's visual flair is abundantly in evidence, with breathtaking shots and beautiful (albeit digital) landscapes, but it's Crowe's star power that will keep you in thrall--he's a true gladiator, worthy of his legendary status. Hail the conquering hero! --Mark Englehart show less

When a Roman General is betrayed, and his family murdered by an emperor's corrupt son, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge.

1940