I Don't Get It

Rating: 4/10 (11 July 2001)

What a dud of a movie!
Don't get me wrong. This movie had some amazing scenes, but I didn't think Russell Crowe's performance was anything spectacular (he was much better in "The Insider", and should've won best actor for that, but that's another story.)
The story was too predictable. We've seen this epic type movie many times over, and quite frankly, it's hard to come up with new material...I understand that. But to totally rip off scenes from it's predecesors...what's up with that?
I guess this movie just ranks up there with all of the other over-hyped movies (Titanic, There's Something About Mary, ANYTHING starring Julia Roberts!)
To be honest, I thought that Gladiator was almost boring. There was not enough action to keep the movie rolling.
As for Best Picture? I know that the Academy loves the epic, but there were a few movies in 2000 that deserved the awards more than Gladiator. (Almost Famous, Traffic, Crouching Tiger...)
Overall, I guess I just expected more from this movie. I guess I just have friends who hype movies too much. Maybe I should tell them to shut up.