Both brilliant and flawed,

Rating: 7/10 (9 January 2005)

Went to see this yesterday (8th Jan), and I have to admit i thought it was pretty darn good (although the other 7 people I was with hated it). The film really is an epic, and on the big screen it looked fantastic, especially during a sequence where we see a battle from the perspective of an eagle flying overhead. However, for a long movie it was far too slow, and I felt that better editing could have speeded it up and made it just that little bit more interesting.
PLUS POINTS: Battles were extremely gory, and very intense (worked wonderfully); beautiful score by Vangelis; looks fantastic, CGI used well (and I'm not a fan of it); emotionally intense (found my heart beating really fast by the end).
NEGATIVE POINTS: too slow; variable acting (especially on the accent front); too much Anthony Hopkins; rather pompous in places; too long (even though the director's cut is supposedly 4 hours!!!!!); not really any point to the whole film, and that probably is its downfall.
Overall, I really enjoyed this, and I'd recommend it to anyone who's prepared to put a bit of time and effort into watching it. However, I think this post-Gladiator slew of historical epics needs to come to an end. You will never better Gladiator, so STOP TRYING! But, all the same, well done Mr Stone.