Good Movie !

Rating: Null/10 (16 May 2000)

I am a woman, and maybe I was in the mood for this movie, but it was not that "gorey" to me. I used to watch all of the old gladiator movies including "Ben-Hur", etc. with my dad and I was really looking forward to seeing this.
During the fight scenes, the cinematography changed to an art form and it was not bloody like most other movies of this type. You would see what a soldier did and it was to the point,so the director did not play on blood scenes, and if you enjoy history at all-this really happened and it is very interesting to think that they had to fight with their wits much more to survive. The horses were beautiful.
I did chuckle a few times, though, because it really was like modern day FOOTBALL. It only seems about 5 years ago whereas people really did not care whether football players broke their necks, or when to stop them from playing if the player had 2 or more concussions....The gladiators had to train in the minor divisions (baseball) and then perform for Rome spectators. The colloseum was just like a "football field" for our entertainment.
George Harris was excellent. After his acting abilities and his well spoken articulate lines, the other actors did pale in their performances after his in some scenes. Sometimes, sadly, you could not hear what they said, but the special effects were above average. I was surprised at their costumes, because they were not what I have been used to or imagined from history carvings and statues.
I did expect more lions than just 3 tigers, and was hoping I would see a lot of lions and Christians (because of history). I did think it would be a more realistic account of that, but that was okay ( it would have probably made the movie more inhumane).
The story line was a good one.