Well crafted if not historically accurate

Rating: 7/10 (17 July 2011)

The ancient Greeks enjoyed plays, formal feasts and competitions of athletic prowess; of which the Olympic games was one.
The Romans, on the other hand, loved torture and bloodsports; watching Christians being torn apart by lions or fierce gladiator fights to the death.
The premise in this movie involved the murder of emperor Marcus Aurelius - a philosopher in his own right - by his son. One problem - he was not murdered, rather dying of the plague in (what is now) Vienna.
Russell Crowe plays a general who had served under Marcus Aurelius and vows revenge against his "murderous" son and to instate his last wish; to hand the power of Rome back to the senate. Even though this never happened in real life, this plot device drives Crowe's character to exact revenge against the "murderer" of his master.
Emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) was also strangled to death in his bath by Narcissus basically because he was a vain, masochistic character.
So know this information before you watch this film. It is so exquisitely made that you may be tempted to treat it as a historically accurate document.