A decent B-grade Peplum turns into an overblown blockbuster.

Rating: 4/10 (16 June 2007)

...and if you think that "overblown blockbuster" is a pleonasm, wait until you see this movie. Even if it's not completely shabby, the amount of self-indulgent, ham fisted dialogue coupled with the sheer stupidity of the script makes one wonder...
Ridley Scott used to be a visionary. Which doesn't really translate in his poor rendition of the ancient Rome. Colors, framework, costumes: the art direction is very weak. The script is so formulaic and falsely clever it's almost insulting. And the editing rarely shines. The action is either boring or gives serious headaches; only one scene really stands out: Maximus (painfully portrayed by a sleepwalking Russel Crowe) leads his enslaved friends to victory by resorting on their old warrior reflexes.
Nothing really shines except that scene; the supporting cast is bland (Connie Nielsen) when not irritating (the usually great Joaquin Phoenix gives a really bad performance as the emperor Commodus).
But the most hilariously bad moment is the climactic battle: Ridley Scott and the hack who wrote this should be ashamed. The whole movie tries to re-write history (I'm not even calling that revisionism) introducing modern, Christian philosophical and moral values in the story through Maximus' perception. If we trusted the movie, Rome was a beacon in a world of barbarians. This ends up giving the hero the upper hand in a duel against Commodus, avenging his family with the sacrifice of his life. This whole ending, not only ridiculous on screen, is truly aimed at the blood-thirsty audience who needs his fix of "eye-for-an-eye" climax to feel satisfied, like in a good ol' "Death Wish" Bronson flick. Not only this is an historical lie (too bad for a movie that tries so hard to feel "realistic"), but it really misses the mark emotionally as the real demise of the emperor showed true poetic justice, as opposed to the self-righteous, overwrought lines Crowe delivers.
As for the "revisionism" complaint, I'm asking you: what if, 2000 years from now, a screenwriter comes up with a WWII epic comic book movie (not unlike a peplum of our times) where Captain America (Maximus) single-handedly defeats Hitler (Commodus)?
Well, it *may* turn out good. If Ridley Scott isn't directing.