overrated Hollywood tripe

Rating: 5/10 (13 June 2008)

How did this movie ever win best picture, and why do people like it so much? It has some of the worst dialog in the movie I have ever heard, and Connie Nielsen's "acting" just made me want to throw up. Not to mention the abysmal plot where there are several problems: 1) We're made to think that Commodus is a bad emperor mainly because he killed his dad and wanted to sleep with his sister. 1st thing wrong about this is that wanting to get laid with his sister doesn't have anything to do with being a bad emperor. 2nd thing is if I was in Commodus's situation, I would have killed him too for not letting me be emperor for some stupid general played by Russell Crowe.
2) The general won a couple fights and suddenly he's everyone's favorite action hero.
3) It's the same tired old revenge plot we've been seeing in movies for years with nothing added to make it interesting (see Kill Bill for that). Also so what that he killed his wife and son too; it's better to get them out of the way then to have them coming for revenge after killing dear old dad (although they probably wouldn't have done much), and they were not even in the movie, so I really didn't care (see Star Wars for caring that family members die).
4) Problem 3 led me here about how in movies they always leave the main character alone in an easy situation he can get out of instead of just killing the loser while he's being held. (see Austin Powers for making fun of this Hollywood trend)
5) The emperor would never get in a ring to fight a slave, especially when he knows he's gonna lose. How stupid! (see Spartacus for gladiator fights with purpose) Well I'm sure there's more, but these are the ones that anger me the most.
Anyway there were some things I did like about the movie which are some of the action scenes were intense and exciting, and the music by James Horner was pretty darned good and enjoyable to listen to. Too bad that it wasn't part of a better movie.
If the Academy wanted to pick an action movie as best picture, they should have went to the far superior Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.