Fantastic swashbuckling revival of a forgotten genre

Rating: Null/10 (22 May 2000)

GLADIATOR is simply one amazing film! As well as completely re-inventing an epic formula that made middle-of-the-century cinema so important, it has shown us a new brand of movie star in the incredible Russell Crowe.
Director Ridley Scott has pulled every stop in this story of a Roman general who is betrayed, condemned, the ultimately triumphs. The action scenes are blisteringly exciting, using SAVING PRIVATE RYAN-esque camera techniques, and you can't help being swept along by the sheer grandness of this epic. Scott's pacing of the film is impeccable, so when it's over you realise that you haven't looked at your watch once, or even realised you'd been sitting down!
So much praise has been given to Crowe for his performance, and I can only add to it. The same quality of performance is given by his screen-nemesis, Joaquim Phoenix, whose portrayal of a ruthless, yet terribly vulnerable leader must surely be Oscar material. The late Oliver Reed delivers the kind of performance that makes us forget his last years and remember him for the great actor he once was. There is also a stirring musical score from the unstoppable talent of Hans Zimmer.
This film must surely be the cinematic event of this year - and it will make one hell of a DVD! Meanwhile, I'm off to see it again!