Too flawed to be considered a great film

Rating: 6/10 (26 January 2001)

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD
This is a pretty good film, but certainly not worth being considered a serious candidate for "best picture of the year" (sadly, the people at the Oscars are probably gonna think different). The reason for my statement is simple: although the visuals are excellent and there are some really strong points through the whole movie, the script is pretty simplistic, and is inaccurate as a portrait of the ancient Roman empire.
Also, I have a big problem with Ridley Scott's depiction of "evil" and "good" characters. Apart from Blade Runner, he always insists too much on how the bad guy is evil, and how the good guy is the voice of reason and freedom. This movie is no exception. Maximus is portrayed too much as the "good guy", yet it's pretty obvious that we can't consider him ONLY good. He was a warrior, fought and killed people for Rome. We see him killing people in the arena as a gladiator, yet anyone can realize their lives as men were as important as Maximus', and the Roman empire did wrong to them as it did to Maximus. Don't get me wrong, Maximus was fighting for revenge and for his own life, and we obviously can't consider him a villain. But anger and sadness should be what we see in Maximus, or maybe his character should be partially rehabilitated -- i.e. regretting his life as a legionary and showing frustration for what he has to do to survive in the arena -- before we are TOLD that he is SO good and caring. Sadly, the script doesn't add much depth, and that's a shame because I think Crowe could have done much better with a good script. More, Ridley Scott tricks us by making Maximus a man that once was just a farmer, and that's historically inaccurate (in the Roman empire you couldn't become a Legion commander unless you were a noble). I found the movie too manipulative to make me really care about Maximus' character.
More, I found the love story with the princess pathetic. It didn't add anything to the movie, and it was there just to make it a little more appealing to the mass audience. A love story between two "beautiful people" always works for some. Not for me. I recently saw the DVD version and I think most of the stuff that got cut out was actually much more interesting than this love story.
Elsewhere, the movie is really good. The visuals are great, and I liked Commodus' performance as well (although I wouldn't call it outstanding). The battle scenes are very impressive. The fight in the end is awesome, too.
I would rate this movie something between 6 and 7 out of ten, but I stick with 6. Sorry, but considering the budget and the potential this is a failure, although a fairly good movie.