There are great films and then there is GLADIATOR

Rating: Null/10 (30 May 2002)

It saddens me that a man such as Ridley Scott can work for months on location bringing the most perceptive and detailed vision of ancient Rome to absolute reality, only to incur the inappropriate, juvenile and one dimensional comments such that I have read here - the following few "reviews" (and I use the term 'loosely') especially. Comments such as "horrible movie," "no interesting characters," "bad acting" and my personal favorite, "crappy special effects," is a sad epitaph to the lack of awareness and utter stupidity of so many viewers.
GLADIATOR is one of the finest movies ever made, I don't "think" it, I am telling you! Ridley Scott pulled off a jaw-dropping miracle reeling the finished product in at just on $60 million. It has the appearance, continuity and professional veneer of a $300 million production. It is in fact only an adaptation on Samuel Bronston's classic 1964 movie THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, itself the most literate and well-acted epic of the 50's and 60's...and again, the key figure of Marcus Aurelius is handled with such dignity, feeling and intelligence. In 1964 Sir Alec Guinness played Aurelius as a strong and clear-thinking man of moral strength and fortitude. In GLADIATOR, Richard Harris hands in what I consider his best role ever, portraying Aurelius as a political visionary, caring parent and incorruptible leader. Excellent though Russell Crowe is here, it is Ridley Scott makes the film what it is, together with the cinematography and enervating musical score. Russell has actually not that great a dialog overload! In the acting department, Phoenix blows him off the screen as the immoral, aggrieved and ultimately weak emperor in waiting. Oliver Reed as Proximo? Well, how he did not win best supporting actor posthumously I will never know. This is the greatest Oscar scandal in history as far as I am concerned. It was the role of his life and he took it in both hands and wrung his life out into the part....completely it would seem. He died as he would have wished, tanked and slipping off a bar stool in Malta towards the end of filming. But he gave us an unforgettable Proximo and I will long honor his name with the memory of what he did here.
Crappy special effects huh? Well, in the film I saw - I was looking at the COLOSSEUM, not a special effect. I was there with them. I have never seen any CGI effect come close to what these techos achieved. Can you believe there were no more than 48 people ever on set? The "crowds" were made up of the same 48 people wearing different clothes and "matted" together - you want to tell me it "looked" like that? The arena action certainly was a far cry from the "Chariot Race" in BEN HUR but there again, what isn't? It was still exciting stuff though, well for the vaguely cerebral set I hasten to add.
A film like GLADIATOR comes along probably once every 40 years or so. Its a pity so many didn't notice it THIS time around. Still, you are probably outnumbered three to one.