A Rare Profoundly impactive movie

Rating: 10/10 (20 March 2015)

Ever since Steven Speilburg (sp?), it has been rare to find a movie that achieves what "Hollywood" stood for back in Charlie Chaplin's day, then Jimmy Stewart, Bogie and Becall, etc.
Gladiator isn't a gently-tugging-at-your-soul's attention kind of movie. It GRABS you from the very first, less than 5 minutes into the opening, and doesn't end until the movie is over. Even then, I recall wandering out of the theater, almost in a "fugue" state of mind. THAT'S how powerful was the movie's moral is, not to mention plot, character development, protagonist vs antagonist, all the way from the gripping start to the ending. Evil vs. Honor, the "parable" of the consequences of choosing to live the thrill of Exhilaration, achieved ONLY via the absorption of selfish greed and power, compared to the everlasting courage of a principled, moral, ethical, self-effacing life.
Actually, Ridley Scott DID do another classic - Alien (the original.) But with Gladiator, Russell Crowe, and Joaquin Phoenix could not have been better chosen for the roles played.
This was a movie on a scale beyond epic...hence, no chance of a sequel. You cannot exceed 1000% in movie calibers.