MUTTON DRESSED AS LAMB

Rating: Null/10 (6 June 2000)

Anyone who goes to the movies to be entertained, and expects to come out of the cinema feeling happy, is going to be disappointed by GLADIATOR. This is an unhappy movie with an unhappy hero,unhappy people who lived in unhappy times and an unhappy ending. True, there are tremendous action scenes enhanced by digital sound but to those of us who are now aware of techniques involving blue screens, green screens and CGI, these scenes are just reminders as to what can be achieved by way of computer magic. It is a fact that if GLADIATOR is compared with movies like BEN HUR and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS it would pale into insignificance considering that the makers of the first two movies had only stunt persons and basic 'camera tricks' with which to work although they had the advantage of stars like Peter Ustinov, Robert Taylor. Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner etc etc to bring their stories to dazzling life. Too much computer imagery and too little reality would be my description of GLADIATOR. I stress that this is MY opinion. It may not necessarily be the opinion of others who look for different attributes in the movies they choose for entertainment.