A worthy film, though not without flaw

Rating: 7/10 (30 May 2000)

Gladiator is an epic film. A moving story with good characters. I must compliment all the actors, Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix especially. I felt I understood all the characters, each had motivation, goals, and a personality. To those who have belittled Phoenix's performance, I suggest you check whether he was merely playing an unlikable and deranged character very well, or if his actual acting was lacking. I think the former is the case. I did notice a few flaws. The first was the excessive and obvious use of CGI, which I feel gave the movie an unreal and unbelievable look at times. The second flaw involves the historical accuracy of the film. While this only slightly detracted from the film, I did find it distracting. For example, I seem to have noticed stirrups in use (certainly the actor's foot position suggested stirrups), which weren't invented until the millenium after the time depicted. Pens and paper, and other minor inaccuracies were to be noticed if you were in the know. As I said though, these minor inaccuracies did not take away from the depiction of the film. Of course, the largest inaccuracy is the eventual outcome of the film, with regards to the fate of the Roman empire, which I will not reveal. In the end however, this is a story, for entertainment, not a historical documentary, and I am more than happy to forgive and overlook such transgressions in the name of a good film, which this definitely is. The only other complaint I have about the film was the use of cuts to the 'dream world'. These cuts are confusing for most of the picture. Who is having them? Why? What do they mean? They gave the film a disjointed feel to me. Though eventually the reasons for these 'dreams' becomes clear, their execution left something to be desired for me. The conclusion? "Gladiator" is a fine film, worth seeing. The closest to an epic film I have seen in some time, "Gladiator" regales with war and love, vengeance and madness. What more can you ask?