Good, but not worthy of Best Picture Oscar

Rating: 8/10 (8 April 2001)

To tell you the truth, when I first saw this movie, I was kind of supprised that it was nominated for best picture. However, considering the years batch of movies, I can see why. 2000 had a lot of good movies, but only two of them (Traffic and Crouching Tiger) were worthy of winning best picture. Previous years have had movies of even higher calibur (American Beauty, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption). If it wasn't for the ending I probably would have not even considered Gladiator for Best Picture at the Oscars. Gladiator is a movie with good acting, decent special effects, exciting gladiator scenes, and a solid, but a times drab screenplay. In certain parts of the movie the dialogue seems kind of cheesy, but these errors are not glaring. Those who are looking for an intelligent, mentally stimulating screenplay should look look elsewhere. However if you are willing to compromise a little, then Gladiator should not disappoint. Russell Crowe does give a solid performance, but I think his performance in last years drama The Insider was far superior. Crowe's vocal tone is good, but at times his New Zealander's accent seeps through in Gladiator. Joaquin Pheonix gives a Performance that just barely qualifies as worthy enough for an Oscar nomination.

When compared to the other movies of this year, Gladiator's acting is on the level with Traffic, Crouching Tiger, Almost Famous, Erin Brockavich and various movies heavily considered by the academy for nomination. As far as screenplay goes, Gladiator gets smacked by movies such as Crouching Tiger, Traffic, and Almost Famous, among others. As far as the other categories go, Crouching Tiger's Cinematography and Traffic's film editing do more for their respective movies than did Gladiator's excellent sound and decent, but flawed visual effects.
I would highly recommend this movie to just about anyone, but I'm afraid the Gold Guy for best picture should have gone elsewhere.