Gladiator - good but flawed.

Rating: 7/10 (3 June 2000)

Plenty of other folks here have written good reviews about the acting/directing in this film, but I feel a need to whinge.
I went to see this film with high hopes and for the most part I was far from disappointed but. there were I feel, failures.
The much vaunted special effects were indeed impressive and there were scenes that are truly awesome. However for me the scenes that least required special effects i.e. the fight sequences were ruined by the addition of a bizarre blurring / juddering effect that rendered them unintelligible. Considering it is a film about gladiators you really would expect to be able to see what was going on, especially in the fights.
In a sci-fi the effects can be up-front, in a film about gladiators the special effects should be invisible.
There that's my whinging over. 7/10.