Good film.

Rating: 10/10 (1 July 2016)

Gladiator is a 2000 British-American epic historical drama film directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed (in his final film role before his death), Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel, and Richard Harris. Crowe portrays the fictional character, loyal Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed when Commodus, the ambitious son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, murders his father and seizes the throne. Reduced to slavery, Maximus rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena to avenge the murders of his family and his emperor.
In AD 180, Hispano-Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius leads the Roman army to a decisive victory against the Germanic tribes near Vindobona, ending a long war on the Roman frontier and winning the favor of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Maximus, weary of battle, desires to retire to his Spanish farm estate, but the Emperor tells him that his own son and heir to the throne, Commodus, is unfit to rule and so appoints Maximus as regent to help save Rome from corruption. Marcus Aurelius tells Commodus that he will not be emperor; Commodus murders him in a fit of rage and becomes the Emperor of Rome.