Pure entertainment

Rating: 6/10 (21 January 2001)

A fun, pretty shiny thing. The almost braveheart, or Ben-Hur/Spartacus redux. Ridley Scott does it again, he really does create an immersive beautiful, obviously faked world. The acting...well, not much to work with, so hell, Scott always has scenery chewing, so what. They're not the show, the Roman world, a very specific silly version of the Roman world is. Its a well-balanced movie, with nothing being especially good.
Speaking of which, for a budget that big, the effects were pretty, but they clearly weren't that impressive. You can tell where they are, which is too bad. In a year with better movies (hardly a bold statement, and its not like they get much better), this wouldn't be considered for anything. Hell, even Titanic might have had more merits. ...

Nevermind.