Why does no one see that this movie has no story.

Rating: Null/10 (14 May 2001)

I did not like this film at all. Ridley Scott has sold out to the Hollywood Studio System and he is rewarded for it. This is a smaller reworking of "The Fall Of the Roman Empire."
Story...what story, with the exception of the cinematography this is an artless movie, how it won Best Picture is way beyond me.

The production qualities were definitely high, the acting was very good, the directing was excellent, yet the story is something everyone seems to miss, the entire body of the story is summed up in it's Tagline.

Why, why, why are people letting American Cinema become so artless, the script was obviously approved because it follows the Hollywood formula to a "T."
Anymore people go to a movie to be "entertained" not to learn, not to "think" and sure who doesn't just like going to a movie to not have to think, but I would like to expect a Best Picture Winner to have just 2 qualities, 1...Make it Original, and 2...Make people think.