Product: Gladiator [VHS] (2000)
Rating: 1.0
Fodder for Morons
This is undoubtedly one of the worst movies of all time. I am totally shocked that Ridley Scott directed it, since he is one of my favorite directors (e.g., Alien, Bladerunner). ...Some of the moronic things about this horrible movie that drove me up a tree follow.The opening scene shows the Romans using something akin to napalm against their enemies. I thought napalm was invented by Dow Chemical in WWII! The main character rides from Germany to the Mediterranean coast of Spain on a horse - in one day. Did you know that tigers live in Africa? The Roman gladius (the sword they used) could not be used for hacking only for stabbing due to its fragility because of the metallurgy of that day. A Roman emperor entering the Colliseum to fight a gladiator??? Sure. Reed gives a truly horrible and cadaverous (fittingly I guess since he died during production) performance. There are continuous nauseous flashback sequences of Crowe's son that made me ill. There's absolutely no evidence that Marcus Aureleus decided to make anyone other than Comodus emperor!Did I mention that the plot is totally boring and predictable, being a typical Hollywood formula with no surprises?The only good thing in this movie was the historically accurate reproduction of the Colliseum. I admit to being impressed with that.For the rest of the movie: feh! I'd give it no stars were that possible.This loathsome movie could only appeal to morons who have no grasp of history, plot, acting, geography (I still can't get over those tigers in Africa), or metallurgy, and who have taken a dramamine to combat the nauseous flashback scenes.