disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (1 September 2001)

Gladiator was not a bad movie, but I must say that I was disappointed with it. Maybe my expectations were too high (hard to believe with most of the movies coming out now a days). But I came out of the movie feeling a bit ripped off.
The acting was solid. Russell Crowe made a good brooding hero. But my main grievance with the movie would be the total lack of originality in the story. Basically change Maximus to a NY city cop, Rome to NY and the Emporer to a corrupt politician and you would have pretty much every other action film to come out of Hollywood. They billed it as a throw back to the epic Roman Empire era movies like a Sparticus or Ben Hur, but it just wasn't. Basically it was the same ole, same ole with some good acting.