Product: Gladiator [VHS] (2000)
Rating: 5.0
Ridley Scott at his best!!!!
What a directorial tour de force for Ridley Scott. Since getting hooked on the DVD format, I have come to appreciate director's more and more every day. This film is a beautiful mix of cinematic artistry, state of the art effects, powerful music by my favorite composer Hans Zimmer, fantastic acting from the entire cast and Ridley Scott weaving it all together masterfully.This genre of film has had some real tragedies and this film showed what could happen in the hands of a true craftsman like Scott.The extras are true blessing especially when it comes to the deleted scenes. In the commentary running with them Scott says they were all sacrificed for time and that is a shame as they were really fantastic even if they did end up on the cutting room floor. They added so much development to the characters especially that of Commodus played by Joaquin Phoenix. Aside from having a humorous name, (a commode is a toilet), he was really a sad man and Phoenix dialed right into the pain he felt of not having the love of his father.