Excellent movie that even got some of the history right!

Rating: 9/10 (21 May 2002)

Gladiator is one of my favorite movies to date.
Review: While the storyline is fictional, the emperors and their character traits are historical. In both the movie and in history, Marcus Aurelius was a good emperor who cared about Rome but who had a very cruel son (Commodus). The addition of Maximus is not necessarily historical, though Commodus was (SPOILER) assassinated (END SPOILER) by someone. Also, in history Marcus Aurelius allowed Commodus to be his successor, where in the movie, that was not his intent. I thought the storyline was excellent. Extremely gripping and intense. An excellent battle of good vs. evil.
Objectionable Content: This IS an R rated movie! Actually though, it really wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. I started watching the movie with expectations of gory battles with blood everywhere. I was pleasantly surprised. It still had some really nasty parts, but as a whole the gory parts were very short and the camera quickly moved on. It is definitely too gory for a PG-13 movie, but it really isn't terrible. As for other objectionable content, profanity is limited to only a few words that are in most PG-13 movies and sex/nudity is practically non-existent. The princess seems to try a couple times to make moves on the married Maximus, but he ignores her and moves on. Commodus also is a bit "too" loving and close to his sister (the princess), but nothing is further hinted or shown. Maximus also prays to Roman gods and frequently talks about how he will go into the after-life and be with his family. If that were true, the movie's ending would be much more triumphant. All in all though, objectionable content is fairly minor for an R rated movie.
Conclusion: This is a great movie, especially for being rated R. My main problem with it is that Maximus doesn't seem to mind killing the other gladiators much. He voices his thoughts that it is a sick and disgusting form of entertainment, but he still does it. Not that he had a choice, but he only spoke out against it once in the whole movie. Also, the whole movie is about his rise to recognition so that he makes it to the Roman Colliseum, where he can kill Commodus, the evil emperor who killed his family. I don't blame him one bit, as I was furious at Commodus after he told Maximus how he killed his family (probably one of the most sad parts in the whole movie), but from a moral standpoint, it would have been better for Maximus to not take the law into his own hands (although that wouldn't have made a very entertaining movie). My point is that not everything the protagonist does is good and worthy of being a role-model. He is loyal to his family and country however, and he does value life (even though he valued his own life more than the other gladiators he was fighting). All in all, there are some things to be concerned about morally, but all these things are historical. In conclusion though, an excellent movie. Amazing acting (Russel Crowe was awesome!), emotional storyline, awesome CG graphics and scenery, cool battle scenes (even though they can be pretty nasty), and an epic battle of good vs. evil. I loved it. Excellent, very entertaining, and not all that gross. I would recommend this for people who want a serious but awesome movie, and who are above the age of 13. It also has fairly good history, so for Roman history fans this would also be a great look. A definite 9 rating.
Extras: DVD - 2 discs, movie in widescreen format, running audio commentary, 11 deleted scenes with or without commentary, as well as unused shots and leftover sequences, the making of Gladiator, a 50 minute feature on gladiators and their contests, a feature about the musical score for Gladiator, a gladiator journal, original storylines for key sequences and deleted sequences (also has conceptual art), a still gallery of portraits, Rome, Germania, the Collosseum, Zucchabar, and behind the scenes, and theatrical teaser and trailer, cast bios, and production notes.