Excellent story, good acting, lots of gladiator action, beautiful filming, I rate "8" of 10.

Rating: Null/10 (4 December 2000)

I have criteria for a film to make it up to my "9" or "10" rating and this one does not reach that level. Still, it is a very entertaining film that plays shorter than its 2 1/2 hours, and gives a good glimpse of the Roman state of emperors and politics in the second century after Christ. I rate it a solid "8" of 10.
The straightforward storyline is not new. A loyal soldier, a "Spaniard" (Russell Crowe)who aging emperor Marcus Aurelius calls "Rome's greatest general", leads the Roman army to a convincing victory in Germania, the last frontier for the 180 A.D. Romans. This general, "Maximus", is the son the emperor wishes he had and asks him to come to Rome to help create a democracy. Immediately all fortunes change and Maximus goes from general to slave to gladiator to rebel. Packed around that storyline are some excellent, however gory, battle and arena scenes. The film ends a bit unbelievably.
The DVD picture and sound are great. You get 2 discs for your purchase, the second has all the "extras" which are quite extensive and provide good perspectives on the Roman Empire, and the making of this film.
** CAUTION - SPOILERS - READ AT YOUR OWN RISK -----
After the victory at Germania, all Maximus wants to do is go home to his farm and wife and young son. It had been 2 years and 265 days since he had seen them. When the emperor's son, Commodus, finds out about his father's favor towards the Spaniard, he kills his own father to become emperor, has his guards take Maximus out to kill him, but Maximus gets the upper hand and kills them all and, badly wounded on his left shoulder, rides towards home. Roman guards also destroy his home, and kill his wife and son. He sees this, passes out, and is a changed man.
He is rescued and sold into slavery to become a gladiator in small venues in a remote Roman province. There, he quickly becomes a killing machine, and soon heads for the big time in Rome, where the new emperor is putting on "150 straight days" of gladiator games in the area. The Romans are entertained by seeing gladiators kill each other, or Christian children eaten by lions.
Ever since the old emperor was killed, then his family killed, Maximus's sole ambition was to face the emperor and get revenge. At their first face-to-face encounter, the Spaniard's popularity with the crowd kept him alive. Repeated "traps" were unsuccessful because Maximus was such a good fighter.
Commodus borders on insane. He has a driving lust for his own sister, Lucilla, and tells her he wants a son by her so he can have his own legitimate heir to the throne, instead of her son by a now dead husband. Lucilla ends up helping in a plot to free Maximus who would return in a few days with an army of 5,000 to kill Commodus and restore some semblance of democracy, to fulfill the desires of the dead emperor. But insiders spoil that plot, kill Maximus' friend, and imprison him again.
Finally, crazy Commodus wants to settle it in a fight in the arena between him and Maximus, man-to-man. But Commodus cheats - while Maximus is still shackled, Commodus stabs him deeply in the abdomen in what turns out to be a mortal wound. However, he has enough strength to first kill Commodus, and order all prisoners freed, and Rome freed, then Maximus dies and we see him, in dream-like sequences, joining his wife and son in the afterlife.
A couple of things did not ring true. Maximus was so much better than everyone else, and it is only barely credible that anyone could have fought out of all those situations. Also, I am not a student of Roman history, but I find it hard to believe that an emperor would get into the arena and fight a gladiator. Still, it is a good watch and I will see it again.