Epic and spectacular.One of the best movies of the year.

Rating: Null/10 (22 November 2000)

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs
Watching Gladiator again on video is'nt the same experience as watching it on the big screen,especially my local UGC cinema,which Speilberg himself has personally recommended.There's much more to be savoured here than sound effects and enhanced picture scope,but all the same,the battle scenes in the collesium are of a calibre higher than anything ever seen before.Soaringly brilliant,they set the movie alight.Equally as sweeping is the performances.Richard Harris as the dying,judgemental father is inhabitually rendering,as is Russell Crowe himself as the main star of the show.Joaquin Phoneix as the corrupt second heir to the throne is snidily effective,Derek Jacobi gives a fruitfully vibrant performance as the loudspeaker of the collesium,and Oliver Reed invests a spirited final performance as the beleaguered slave owner.Djimon Hounsou is also unnoticably fine as Crowe's sidekick in the arena.Director Ridley Scott has produced many breathtaking craft designs in his films,but the soaring overview to the entrance of the collesium is one of his most profound and manevolent ever.The whole film works on every level it sets out to work on.Easily one of the most recommendable films of the year,this is best watched on a 32 inch screen in dolby pro logic to create as close a feeling to the cinema as you're ever going to get.*****