The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor.

Rating: 8/10 (30 June 2009)

Ridley Scott's "Gladiator" tells the story of a betrayed Roman general (Russell Crowe) who is thrust into the life of a gladiator. He lives for the day that he can exact revenge on the man responsible for the murder of his wife and child, the emperor himself (Joaquin Phoenix).
The film harks back to the sort of big-budget historical epics that died out in the mid-sixties. Therefore, it isn't surprising that the script's strength isn't originality. The plot borrows elements of "Ben-Hur" & "Spartacus" and supposedly also draws heavily from "The Fall of the Roman Empire", which I haven't seen.
Regardless of this lack of originality, the film does manage to present us with a compelling story of a type that had been absent from movie screens for too long. Also, with the advances in CGI, the filmmakers were able to fully realize the epic scope that such a story deserves. While the script may misstep a few times it nevertheless presents an intelligent story effectively balancing action and political intrigue.
The cast is solid. Russell Crowe won an Oscar for his work here, which is a bit surprising to me. It's a good performance as far as action-oriented drama goes, but I don't think that it's outstanding by any means. I think that Joaquin Phoenix fared better as the conniving emperor but he only managed an Oscar nomination among some tough competition. The rest of the cast is generally above-average, featuring a number of talented individuals like Djimon Hounsou & Richard Harris.
Ridley Scott's direction is skillfully handled and resulted in a well-deserved Oscar nomination. The attractive cinematography & crisp editing were also recognized with Oscar nominations. The visual effects deservedly won an Oscar, as did the costume design, while the art direction scored another Oscar nomination. These plaudits should make it clear that this is a film showing considerable care in all areas of visual presentation.
A further Oscar nomination resulted from Hans Zimmer's score while the sound design scored another Oscar win. Very rarely do I notice sound design in a film but in this case I did.
I'd say that, more than anything, the high quality of every technical aspect of the film went a long way in securing the film's Best Picture Oscar win. As for my own opinion, I think that the film represents a rare commodity: A crowd-pleasing film that also shows considerable technical prowess.