Product: Gladiator [VHS] (2000)
Rating: 4.0
Simple story...Yet an exhilarating feel to it!
The plot has been done. Man seeks revenge after a struggle of power leaves his family dead. Man becomes a gladiator to prove himself and to seek justice. Man kills villain yet man dies and is given a full hero's treatment. But this movie does it in a sweepingly enchanting way. You can picture yourself almost in the period that the film is placed in (there are enough historical inaccuracies to fill a booklet but it has the feel of the times more than the actual details). It at some point becomes entertainment that satisfies our hunger for pure bloody action(as the games did during Pax Romana), but it turns back to the tragedy of Maximus and focuses on his seeking of justice for his family and waiting to be reunited with them. It had a much overused story but shows it in a powerful, convincing way.