Good action, historically ridiculous

Rating: Null/10 (17 February 2007)

The action scenes in Galdiator are brilliant - and I would consider amongst the most authentic battle scenes etc that I've seen to date. The intrigue is well souped up throughout, but falls down seriously (for me) with an exchange between characters that just wouldn't have happened in Ancient Rome. The particular scenes that caused me problems were more reminiscent of a modern-day barrack-room confrontation, or a Pale Rider showdown, stirring stuff indeed, but it wasn't Rome. Subsequently, I found myself tutting and snickering at some points. I also felt that the film milked heavily on memories of I Claudius, (the BBC serial) but just didn't have the refined character portrayal so well developed by Robert Graves. It's a jolly good yarn, but simply a lavish, modern day cathartic exercise of revenge, dressed up in togas and breast plates.