It's better than bad, it's good!

Rating: Null/10 (24 May 2000)

I expected little from this movie. All I had to go on was a preview and a bunch of commercials and promos playing during WWF (not that I'd be watching WWF, er...). So the first thing that comes to mind is: It'll try too hard to be both Spartacus, Ben Hur, and Braveheart but only mediocre and trying to show a bunch of repetitive fight scenes with average dialogue and no plot, and try to cash in on the role of a gladiator as another action movie.
I'm glad I was wrong. Let me tell you, the one thing this movie has is character. All the roles are played with such life in their own ways, that it makes it far easier to imagine living in Roman times (though most of the actors were obvously not Roman, but we never portray other cultures that accurately do we?)
The desires and views of the gladiator owner seemed believable and real, and the emperor's daughter in the movie had a firm yet willingly distant outlook on her environment.
Caesar didn't have the exact effect of a Roman emperor I'd expect, even at his private dwellings, and seemed more like Obi-Wan Kenobi in some ways, but still he played well enough. (I guess altering the shape of the actor's skull to fit the role is out of the question.)
Maximus, the hero, was noticeably not the invincible solo-man who rises to power by kicking everyone's ass and saying "FREEEDOM!" one too many times. In fact, he seems reluctant to be in his current position (of course you'd be) and shows more hope to die quickly without anyone taking notice rather than triumph.
The main strong point of the movie is its tone- while harsh, it has both a sense of realism and a sense of telling any grand tale. The opening battle is so choppy and confusing, it adds greeatly to the effect of not only being surrounded by countless enemies in the nearly unseeable night, but the thought in the back of your mind that says "So I'm supposed to survive all this?"
The gladiator fights, on the other hand, are close up and give a chance to see the fight from the hero's eyes, and not from the distance of the gladiator seat. Maximus kills through both strength and luck- even with armor, both strategy and weakness must be exploited, and this general is fully knowledgeable in that. He doesn't charge in like a madman, but only strikes when he expects to win. I felt this gave more credibility to the fights, especially seeing the fragility of the typical human against the slashing of steel.
This movie requires you to care about its characters as well. You must place your eyes within the characters through each scene, and realize their plights. The movie mixes both a present day familiarity with a portrayal of life 2000 years old, which is sometimes accurate and sometimes altered simply for the audience to swallow easier.
The other part of this movie that makes it great (and has been criticized for) is its very play-like atmosphere at times. It shows characters through archetypes, with lines and dialogue that represent who they are, even in their shifting moods. Oftentimes drama is used in place of what could be more normal scenes, making the movie seem more like a grand performance, where the characters and story is shone in vivid life. It tells a story well in its few hours, as if it could be transported to an Elizabethan play with no problem (minus CG effects).
And as most movies try to be too much (Star Wars: TPM), or have no idea where they are going (Battlefield Earth), this movie knows its goal- to tell a story, and tell it well.
And for that, it beat my expectations.