Awesome and brutal

Rating: 10/10 (23 February 2011)

Another Ridley Scott masterpiece, next to Alien, Blade Runner, Black Hawk Down etc.
Gladiator packs a lot of punches and drama, with violent arena battle scenes.
The film stars Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, etc.
In Gladiator, victorious general Maximus Decimus Meridias (Russell Crowe) has been named keeper of Rome and its empire by dying emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris), so that rule might pass from the Caesars back to the people and Senate. Marcus' neglected and power-hungry son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), has other ideas, however. Escaping an ordered execution, Maximus hurries back to his home in Spain, too late to save his wife and son from the same order. Taken into slavery and trained as a gladiator by Proximo (Oliver Reed), Maximus lives only that he might someday take his revenge and fulfill the dying wish of his emperor. The time soon comes when Proximo's troupe is called to Rome to participate in a marathon of gladiator games held at the behest of the new emperor, Commodus. Once in Rome, Maximus wastes no time in making his presence known, and is soon involved in a plot to overthrow the emperor with his former-love Lucilla (Connie Nielsen, Commodus' sister, after whom he lusts, and also the widowed mother of Lucius, heir to the empire after his uncle, and democratic-minded senator, Gracchus (Derek Jacobi).
Without a doubt, one of the best films I've seen.
Gladiator gets 10 stars.