People give this movie too much credit

Rating: 7/10 (7 May 2000)

Although it was not a bad movie, it was not all that good of a movie either. Ridley Scott seems to get more entertaining scripts every time he directs, but he gets worse and worse at directing. The battle scenes drove me up the wall. The cameras are so close-up that all we can see is blood and movement. The resolution is grainy and dirty looking, which makes it even harder to see. Scott must also believe that the only way to show battle is by filming it like a music video. A few seconds of a camera shot is shown, then a second of another shot, then another shot, then another and another for five minutes straight. Now it's not only hard to see, but dizzying as well. A better director would have used longer shots to show off good fight choreography, development and tactics of battle. But Scott takes the easy way out.
Now we know we can't rely on the director for a good movie. The cast overall is good. Commodus (Phoenix) has a few good moments, but is just too dull to be enjoyed as a villain. Scott tries to give us pity for the bad guy to add depth to his character, but it doesn't work. I didn't feel anything for him, hatred or pity. I was a little surprised that Phoenix wasn't better than he was in the role of Commodus. He is a talented actor and he was by far the best part of '8mm', but he will work for this movie. The supporting cast does a good job in few scenes that they posses. The gladiators are big and mean enough, the senators do their job to move the story along, but the best supporting performances come out of Proximo (Reed) and Commodus's sister, Lucilla(Nielson).
As important as the supporting cast is, everything rides on Crowe's performance as Maximus. He does wonderful. He carries this movie on his back with little help. He broods and glares and doesn't talk much. He has great reaction shots and is a good physical actor. Without him, this movie has little redeeming qualities.
With Crowe leading the charge, the movie is marginally entertaining and worth going to see. But don't sit to close to the screen, the camera shots might make you nauseous.