The first true epic in a while

Rating: 9/10 (13 May 2000)

Wow.
I went into this film pretty sure I would hate it. Wow. I was pretty impressed. It has been a long time since I have seen a film that had an epic feel to it in the same way that Lawrence of Arabia or Ben Hur did.. Not that it is a perfect film or anything. It is great escapism. Russell Crowe is fantastic - MAXIMUS. How can you go wrong with Ancient Rome and all those great latin names?
The art direction was very good - thank god they covered the actors in dirt. It always sucks to see clean and pristine 20th century actors portraying characters from the middle ages or ancient times.
I thought also that this was one of the first big budget films to really pull off using some surreal effects. Often they stick out like a sore thumb, but I felt they were very effective in this film.
The only problem I had with the film I think was that when Maximus was taken to the desert and made a gladiator, the whole sequence of events was too short. He's taken away, he is sold into gladiator slavery, he rises to the top of the gladiators, and then he is sent back to Rome to fight for the emperor. It needed to be spread out just a little. I know it was a long film, but another few minutes in that part of the film would have done wonders.
I particularly liked the camera work during the fight sequences. Very nice.