Good film, yet overrated

Rating: 6/10 (10 July 2007)

If you have seen Spartacus, Quo Vadis, The Robe, and even Ben Hur, then you know there is really nothing new here. Where the aforementioned films used fabulous set designs and second unit directing, this film opts to try to impress the viewer with computer generated scenes meant to impress the eye in an artificial manner. Russell Crowe seemed to have phoned in his performance on this one, and is very disappointing considering his range as an actor. His Academy Award for this film was to compensate for his loss for the film, "The Insider", in which he was truly excellent. While it was good to see old timer pros like Reed and Harris, they only served to remind the viewer of those days when Hollywood knew how to produce a spectacle through solid direction, set design, and the coordination of extras through the use of second unit directing, i.e., Yakima Canutt. A good filmed marred by Crowe's unusually wooden performance. As for Joaquini Phoenix, well, he was very good as usual, but his characterization was a repeat of Peter Ustinov's in Quo Vadis.