Where was all that money spent-a big disappointment

Rating: 7/10 (25 January 2001)

I didn't watch this movie expecting great acting or literate writing. In this I certainly wasn't disappointed. I also didn't expect to see any real history presented. Even otherwise great movies take more than a little liberty with historical fact but this one was so far off they might as well have used completely fictional characters. The real disappointment is with the much praised visuals. When Maximus and the other gladiators enter the coliseum it is announced that they are going to present a re-enactment of the siege of Carthage. In the REAL coliseum they presented such shows with casts of hundreds of gladiators complete with elaborate staging. Parts of the coliseum were even flooded to support ships for naval battles. You would think that with a huge budget and modern effects capabilities they could have done much better.