Disappointing...no, I wasn't expecting much.

Rating: 4/10 (24 May 2000)

I am glad that I did not have high hopes for this movie, since I then would have been greatly disappointed. I expected a no-plot action movie with a good actor - Russell Crowe. I was right. The plot is weak and very unoriginal. Everything about the plot wreaks of banality, since there are no original ideas introduced into this film.
I find Russell Crowe a good actor - believable, and able to provoke sympathy. This film provides a lot of star status, but little acting potential, besides the disgusted looks when he gores someone with a spear, or the moments of pain when he finds his wife and child murdered.
Commodus is a completely overplayed villain. The film tries so hard to make him seem evil (using all the bad-guy tactics) that it just gets old.
Special effects were mediocre, although they were hard to discern due to the poor lighting throughout the movie. Rather than be given a chance to appreciate some of the tactics and maneuvers of the gladiators, we were thrown into a jumble of random fights that did nothing but confuse.
How this movie can be given an average vote of 8.5 on IMDB is unbelievable. I suggest that those voting actually watch the movie rather than marveling
at the blood and armor.