Mostly believable, gritty Romans vs. Barbarians movie

Rating: 7/10 (16 August 2010)

If you're into the kind of movie where mud smeared people fight with swords, spears and other ancient weaponry, ride horses across beautiful scenery while wearing animal skins, you should enjoy this movie, I definitely did.
I gave it 7 out of ten for being a well made gritty movie with a plot line that made sense and believable fight scenes, all the while managing not to be over the top. All of which I found surprising for this genre and so may have earned it a slightly higher rating.
That said, at times the fight scenes failed to convince and I felt they could have been a more raw and visceral. There was a mêlée scene which reminded me of the opening of Gladiator, without copying it out right.
I also had a few plot points where I thought: "why would they ...", or "why didn't they ...", but for the most part the plot made sense and I found the characters motivations and actions believable.
The beautiful scenery should also be mentioned and the movie did a great job of placing the action in the scenery instead of just showing it to us.
Nit-picking: I didn't think much of the title sequence with it's floating 3d text, other than using an old looking font - I didn't get the connection. Also some things didn't sit well with what I know about the period, but after I got over myself I enjoyed it.