Product: Gladiator [VHS] (2000)
Rating: 3.0
I didn't like it.
I don't think Gladiator is a great film. Oh it looks wonderful, the fight scenes are great but, and I know it's not just me who thinks this, the whole enterprise isn't very involving. I left the film feeling nothing.The problem is the hero. As a general he hacks and slices barbarians. Through misfortune he is made a slave and he hacks and slices through gladiatorial games. There is no reason to like the guy and the idea that he wants to join his family in the after life doesn't hold much water.What is worse is the fact that is glorifies ancient Rome. You get the sense that film makers believe that the Roman Empire was a noble enterprise. Never do you get the sense that, like in Unforgiven, that the killing is needless or that the hero is in fact as bad as the people he's killing. I wasn't enjoying the film because I was never convinced that the heroes task was either justified or compelling.However, this is a Ridley Scott film and of course it's very well made. The fights are great and all the acting is fine.Epics like Braveheart, and Spartacus were about freedom. Maybe it's just me but Gladiator is a hollow experience by comparison.