Gladiator

Rating: 9/10 (16 July 2002)

I bought the video of 'Gladiator' for my dad's birthday. He loved it, my brother loved it, my mother loved it, my Latin teacher loved it, everyone else I know loved it, and of course I loved it too. But I wanted to see it in the cinema, because it's more powerful there. A friend of mine once told me the end of the film, that wasn't very nice, but still I wanted to see it and I'm glad I did. I like movies about ancient Rome, even when I was a kid, this is after Ben-Hur my favorite one.
The story is simple, but it's very strong and effective shown to the audience. A Roman general, called Maximus (Russell Crowe) is betrayed, and he's forced to go into slavery, as a gladiator he tries to survive, and after many victories, he goes back to Rome in the Colosseum, where he wants to take revenge on the corrupted emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix).
This movie has an excellent cast, Russell Crowe as the hero, Joaquin Phoenix as the corrupted emperor, Richard Harris as the TRUE emperor, Connie Nielsen as the sister of Commodus, and Oliver Reed as the former gladiator who teaches Maximus how to be a magnificent gladiator. Pity that it was his last performance. (Oliver, we'll miss you.)
The performances were terrific, especially from Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix, but the others were terrific too. As for the Oscars, there are people who say it's been overrated, I think it's a bit underrated, even though it won 5 Oscars. I was disappointed that Joaquin Phoenix and Ridley Scott didn't get an Oscar for this, because they both really surprised me. However I was glad that it won an Oscar for Best Picture and Russell Crowe for Best Actor, I wasn't surprised about that because Russell really showed what a true hero is.
Ridley Scott did an excellent job with this movie. I'm really impressed. The special effects are outstanding, and they don't subordinate the performances of the actors. Ridley brings us in the heart of Rome, and inside the walls of the Colosseum, where the battles are organized. These battle scenes are really great and exciting to see. But the best thing Ridley Scott did, was to give us a clew how it was in the ancient Rome, I mean, those things REALLY happened back then, and Rome loved this: the blood, the gore, the fights, etc. Ridley Scott made these images very realistic, in a way it's beautiful made, even though it's extremely violent and brutal. But behind all the violence and the blood, there's a striking story of a man, who becomes the poorest man, but after a while he becomes a hero and he puts Rome back on its feet. Ridley also describes the politics and the corruption in Rome, those things also were well known in the ancient Rome.
I really enjoyed this movie, and after all those years it's fun to see another Roman epic. I recommend this movie to everyone, my advice, BUY it, don't RENT it, and get ready for a big pile of action. The Roman epic is back again.