A clichéd directionless mess with some good visuals

Rating: 8/10 (16 September 2004)

The film opens in Ancient Germania, with a battle that could have been spectacular were it not for the choppy cameras. (Is it just me, or do dogs jumping over walls of fire seem lame?) This scene should have been the highlight of the film, but it is hard to tell what is going on.
The rest of the film really loses direction, like it can't decide whether to be political or revenge-based. Why does everyone want Commodus dead? In what way is he running a 'dictatorship'? This may have been explained but the movie is far too short. Apart from Commodus, all of the characters are 1-dimensional and tiresome. There are a few good fight scenes but they don't really fit into the story. I give this a 6/10 because there are some interesting elements (all involving Commodus, the only believable character).