a clanker

Rating: 2/10 (8 April 2001)

Whether this is the worst movie ever to be given Best Picture Oscar is a tricky question, when one thinks of, for example, "Dances With Wolves," "Titanic," and "Forrest Gump"... For Most Money and Research Used to Least Effect, the sinking of the White Star liner and the Roman Empire are just about a tie, but for contrived situations and dialogue that clanks worse than the armour (not to mention cheesy special effects), "Gladiator" is in a class of its own. The film's popularity, and its garland of ill-earned awards are a distressing instance of substituted reality (the late, unlamented Dr Paul Goebbels would have understood this very well), of hype feeding on itself: the movie, as a movie rather than a sales-campaign, is a dud.