To my wife... none of your business

Rating: 8/10 (10 January 2011)

In AD 180, after his family(his son and the mother of said kid) are murdered, Maximus(I guess they didn't want to be completely overt and go with Biggus) seeks revenge over the man who also stole the position of ruler of Rome from him; Commodus, who they try really hard to make a villain out of. The acting is marvelous, with Crowe, Phoenix and Reed(R.I.P.) bringing their roles to life. All characters are credible and well-developed. The fighting, although apparently not consistent with reality of how they were trained, is really cool; they're of varying length with nice choreography. They're covered in close-ups and with hand-held, which really gives them a sense of intensity. The scope is epic, and this is realistic and authentic, giving you a feel of how it was back then. This has well-done FX, you basically can't tell the CGI from the real. The photography is excellent, with really impressive visuals. Dialog is fine. It is a tad Hollywood, as the overall thing is. Honestly, I would rate Spartacus higher than this. Kirk has gravitas far beyond that of Russell, the battles are *unforgettable* and powerful, the interplay between the people is heartfelt and rings true(and pays off), and the story is simply more inspirational(slave rises up against his master, early human rights campaign... this is just "I'm going to get back what I lost or get payback for it", and could have been set any other time or place). Still, a solid 142 minutes sans credits. There is a lot of disturbing content and bloody violence. The DVD comes with an interesting and informational commentary track by the director, the DOP and the editor. 8/10