Everything that makes a great film

Rating: Null/10 (10 July 2002)

"Gladiator" has everything that makes a film a great film. It has a pretty simple story, a main character that you can either identify with or which has an incredible sex appeal (so my wife tells me), great actors, a great score, and very professional production.
You can easily find films that outperform "Gladiator" on one of those elements, but films that do so on *all* elements are rather scarce. I've seen plenty of comments complaining about the story or overuse of special effects, but you might as well go and complain about Star Wars - because I think that what makes Star Wars a great movie is pretty much what I described in the first paragraph.
*** Spoiler warning: if you don't know anything about the film, best not read the part that comes next ***
The film is indeed rather dark. There are the very graphic fights on the battlefield and in the arenas. There is the decadence of Roman culture, and the incestuous love (lust?) of Commodus for his sister. It certainly doesn't have a happy end, but amazingly so this is one unhappy end that makes you feel good: it gives a glimpse of afterlife as the Romans would have perceived it, and somehow it tells you that dying isn't as bad as people make it out to be.
All in all, I think this is one of those rare, very beautiful films. When you leave the auditorium, you're still in another world. There are very few films that have that effect - instead relying on what the CGI department came up with this week, or what the statistics say a film should be like. It is a pleasure to watch, a film like a film should be.