true to the past with all the brilliance of present technology

Rating: 10/10 (19 May 2001)

Although there might be spots where cutting would improve, there are so many truly stirring scenes that it is hard to fault the final package. My friend who studied Vergil with me and has taught Latin confirmed my impression that they had all the important historical details right. The hommage to Leni Riefenstal when Commodus returns to Rome is killer. The scenes when Maximus prays to his portable Lares and Penates just blew me away. Anyone with a drop of testosterone should get quite a kick out of the "end" of the Germania war. Must see.