great on the eye, awful on the ear

Rating: 4/10 (30 March 2001)

oooohhh it looks just lovely, Rome is awesome and the set pieces, the opening fight scene and the gladatorial combat are fantastic to look at. But then it is spoiled by people opening their mouths. Not because they all have really bad teeth, but because someone should have taken the time to come up with a good script for Ridly Scott to do something with.
As ever Mr. Scott proves what a gifted director he is with great visual flair, but again he is poorly served with material that is all mouth and no trousers. And as for the performance by Joauqin Phoenix, well to say he was overacting his role as a madman would be to insult the undisputed title holder of overacting madmen, the one, the only Brad Pitt.
It's not bad, but how anybody could say that this is a better film than the simply sublime 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' proves how little taste there is in the world and how unfortunately good guys so often don't get what they deserve.