Why I prefer Spartacus

Rating: 6/10 (8 July 2001)

I found this film to be massively overhyped, and was unbearably derivative, particularly of Spartacus.
Spartacus, on he other hand, is one of my all time favourite films. And given the immense similarities, I should have at least found Gladiator ntertaining. And I figured out why I didnt today - characters. Gladiator has none. Maximus the Gladiator is deliberately played by Crowe as a walking Zombie throughout the film, the Emperor is barking mad, and only Oliver Reed's part has any sort of substance, and even then is a carbon-copy of Peter Ustinov in Spartacus.
And speaking of carbon-copies, the emperor bears a strong resemblance to John Hurt as Caligula in the classic tv series I, Claudius (incidentally, Derek Jacobi, Claudius in that series, crops up in a small role here). However, Hurt's character had far more depth and believabilitly, and most importantly, was better played.
None of the other characters here really got anything to do, so that rules them out as well.
At least the emperor was fairly enjoyable to watch. Joaquim Phoenix has a lot of potential, he should go far.
And another thing. The score was dreadful. God knows why it sold so well. And God knows how come this film got so any Oscars. Russell Crowe as best actor? How difficult is it to look grim and stand still a lot? Dear oh dear.
The best scene was the opening battle. That, at least, was brilliantly filmed and very powerful. If only the rest could have lived up to it.
If you liked this, you should vastly prefer Spartacus and I, Claudius. If you havent seen this, dont bother and watch those instead.