The Ben-Hur of Our Generation

Rating: 10/10 (4 April 2005)

Simply put it is the achievement of a lifetime for Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe. Crowe finally solidified his place in the acting community with this flawless performance and hasn't let up since. I will never forget the look on his face when he won the Academy Award for Best Actor he looked like he had been told he just won the lottery as I am quite sure he was thinking he was gonna get rear ended yet again. From start to finish you are awestruck with how great this masterpiece is. Ancient Rome never looked so good and the beauty and intense savagery is captured like water in a bottle. It also puts every movie that came out that year to absolute shame without doubt or question. It stands toe to toe with the best epic movies of all time, including Braveheart, Spartacus, and of course Ben-Hur which was by mine and many other accounts the best epic movie ever made. They put together the best cast Hollywood could assemble and knocked out audiences all over the world. Phoenix puts on a great show and certainly deserved the acclaim given him for it I was disappointed he didn't win an Oscar but very glad he was nominated. Gladiator was the Academy's Best Picture and is the best movie of 2000.