Bigger Than Ben-Hur

Rating: Null/10 (2 May 2000)

Ridley Scott's film of Dreamworks $105 million epic, GLADIATOR, is one of the most visually stunning and exciting cinematic entertainment experiences to come out of Hollywood in nearly four decades.
For its 153 minute running time Ridley Scott has crafted a spectacle quite superior to its predecessors yet very carefully paying homage to the genre at the same time.
Not since William Wyler's Ben-Hur and Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus has a genre returned and exploded so vibrantly on the screen.
It is important to note that Ridley Scott and Steven Spielberg's "passion" for film and a specific genre show in every frame. The history of cinema plays the most important part in the structure, execution and subsequent success of the film.
Russell Crowe as the avenging GLADIATOR warrior, Maximus, dominates the screen with a rawness and freshness of energy from the opening frame to the last and will catapult Crowe to superstar status.
The supporting cast includes Richard Harris, Joaquin Phoenix, Derek Jacobi Connie Nielsen and David Hemmings.
All are equally impressive in their respective roles but it is the late Oliver Reed who stands out above the rest in a wonderful role reminiscent and clearly inspired by that of Peter Ustinov's in Kubrick's Spartacus. It strongly confirms not only a great performer and screen presence, but a great loss to cinema. GLADIATOR is a fitting tribute to a most talented and gifted performer.
The music score by Hans Zimmer is stirring and triumphant. Combined with Ridley Scott's spectacular vision it is one of the most exciting and original marriages of music and film ever put together.
GLADIATOR is definitely the blockbuster hit of the year, and won't be forgotten at academy award time next year.
Exhilerating, exciting and entertaining. Now, thats what cinema is all about.