an absolutely great movie, an epic with style and the guts to do as it pleases

Rating: Null/10 (9 May 2000)

alright, when i first saw Gladiator all i could say was wow. that movie was the best i've seen in a while. i see a lot of movies, most i must say are decent at best. its only once in awhile where i see a FILM. this is what Gladiator was. after seeing it i cant get it out of my mind. everytime i see a trailor for it i get butterflys in my stomach. most movies that i enjoy are forgetable. not this one, i remember every detail, and thats something considering the vastness of the film. every single scene had power. each was a punch to the groin or a passionate brush on the heart. the characters, while archetypical, were all well rounded. Crowe delivers an awesome performance, worthy of super-star status. in my opinion the up and coming actor should be on the pay roll with Gibson, Cruise and Carrey.
Soem people will complain about the violence. i think that the movie was very violent, but unlike a cheesy slasher film, the violence was tasteful. Like other Dreamworks titles (SPR mainly), the graphic content of Gladiator only added to the power and omnipotence of this piece.
While the idea of a Gladiator movie went out with the battle fires in Sparticus, Scott is daring enough to tackle the epic idea and, while retaining a confident, historic style, the director uses all of todays extras to really bolster the film. while on the topic of speicial effects, i thought they were grand. the stadium, half real half CGI is seamless. any loss of detail wouldn't be noticed because, while watching, your full attention is focused on the characters. lastly, at 1 hour 50 minutes, the movie may seem too grandiose for the fair-weather movie goer. however, you never even feel like its almost thre hours. not at any point in the film can you have time to look at your watch and say "damn, when is this gonna be done?" all i have to say is that Gladiator was an great movie by a stellar director staring a soon-to-be huge actor. you MUST see this film.