Overrated and over-computerized

Rating: 5/10 (20 September 2000)

I saw Gladiator at a sneak preview in New York and I must admit, I walked away disappointed. I felt that the battle scenes at the beginning were too computerized and pixiliated--they just zoomed by so fast that the audience did not have a chance to see what is going on. Someone later made the comment to me that, "Well, isn't that how you would experience a battle?" And I would have to saw, I don't know, I've never been in one. But compared to the opening sequence in "Saving Private Ryan" (not a perfect movie, in my eyes, but the opening battle scene was far superior to Galdiator's), Gladiator's battle was all whiz-bang, wham-bam, with no emotion. I whispered to my seatmate that it was too pixiliated and he whispered back, "That's how they cheat," which pretty much summed it up.
As went the opening battle scene, so went all the gladiatorial scenes--all speed, no substance. I couldn't even tell how the Russell Crowe character won some of the battles, they were whipping by so fast, with such fake, fake computerized effects. To compare, a couple of days after seeing Gladiator, I saw Sparticus on the big screen. There is only one gladiatorial battle, yet it is much more exciting, suspenseful and real than any of the Gladiator scenes. I CARED what happened!
On a postive note, I did think Joaquin Phoenix's performance was fantastic, as were all of the performances. The computerized amphitheater was also pretty cool looking. Too bad the film makers felt that the computer could somehow take the place of realisticly choreographed gladiatorial fights.