overrated

Rating: Null/10 (6 September 2001)

I've seen this twice. Once in the theater and again on video. Each time was a disappointment. Judging from the look of the film it truly desires to be great, but ultimately it fails. Talk about woeful miscasting - Mr. Phoenix is atrocious (he is so much better in Clay Pigeons, and U-Turn). I can hardly watch him anytime he is on the screen. And what's with Lucilla's son? He looks like a pre-pubescent Adrian Lyne circa "Fatal Attraction". I disliked the score by Hans Zimmer - yet another component of a film that yearns to be epic, but isn't. Disappointing also in it's outright theft of Gustav Holst's "The Planets". Lisa Gerrard's beautiful voice is unquestionably suited for a vast, cinematic opus. This isn't it. This film suffered from too much explaining of it's special effects. Knowing how fake the Coliseum is with it's liberal use of CGI robbed me of any awe it could have produced. I didn't like the slow-motion effects in the opening battle scenes. And the dog jumping through fire? Please. A film that should have been great, but is just another over-hyped (but I did love the Kid Rock trailer-music promo), poorly executed waste of two hours.