Watch it for the mise-en-scene

Rating: 3/10 (3 February 2001)

First, the good things about this movie: costumes, set, decorations, and locations, and an excellent beginning fight sequence.
Otherwise, I have to agree with others that this is a poor movie with a weak story. Every character was one-dimensioned and shallow: Russel Crowe as a honorable warrior-family man who who cannot be corrupted by power, Richard Harris as an aged ruler who realizes his legacy should not be about the size of his empire but about the people, Joaquin Phoenix as a conflicted boy who feels unloved by his father, so on and so forth.
Ridley Scott is contrived and conventional. *Possibler spoiler* Case in point: on a deleted scene on the DVD where Lucilla admits that Commodus may have to die to save the Roman Empire. Scott says this was the first time Lucilla expressed her ambivalence regarding her brother and Scott decided to delete the scene say so he can stretch the ambiguity. Hello - was that ambiguity not painfully obvious after we see them together for 10 minutes!?
Hans Zimmer music does not help other - the score sounded like `Lion King' plus `The Prince of Egypt' without the musical numbers.
Overall, the film is problematic and a disappointment. I rank it a 5 out of 10. Watch it for the mise-en-scene.