Good movie, but a great one?

Rating: 7/10 (16 March 2001)

"Gladiator", the movie favored to win the Oscar for Best Picture this coming March 25, is an epic movie that I found to be just good. I didn't think it was a great one like most people thought it was. Certainly not as great as "Ben-Hur" and "Spartacus", which "Gladiator" is no doubt inspired from. The good things about this movie are the two main performances by Russell Crowe (Maximus) and Joaquin Phoenix (Commodus), the action scenes in the Roman Colosseum, and the beautiful film score. All those elements get high marks. The cinematography, editing, and production design are very good as well. But if there's one element that keeps this movie from being a great film is the lackluster special effects. The effects aren't all that great here. Even though they're not bad at all times, there were some effect shots that looked obviously phony. That shouldn't happen in a film like this. Nevertheless, if you like historical epic movies, then you'll probably like "Gladiator". I was just a little disappointed that it wasn't the great film I thought it would be.
*** (out of four)