Excellence that shines in all facets

Rating: Null/10 (19 November 2002)

Overall, the film is beautifully crafted. Haunting music expresses the tragedy of a good man wronged, superlative acting and direction realises an Ancient Rome of epic power, savagery and bloodlust. This is a "Rome of the Mind", a tale of what might have been. History was different, Commodus Hercules never really killed his father Marcus Aurelius for example, but all of that is forgotten in the magnificent sweep of the story. Monumental grandeur is mixed with sharp, bloody conflict, told with mastery. The gore is never superfluous, the characters and dialogue never overdone. Russell Crowe fully realises the honourable man flung into catastrophe by fate, and the tragedy is rendered painfully palpable by superb villainy expressed by Joaquin Phoenix' embodiment of conniving evil. Richard Harris is magnificent as the aging, weary Marcus Aurelius and Derek Jacobi plays the archetypal politician to perfection. This is a totally engrossing, absolutely magnificent work.
Bravi, bravissimi!