Joaquin Phoenix's portrayal of the twisted Emperor Commodus was boring, monotonous, and pretentious, and Russell Crowe's Maximus was wooden and lifeless. Numerous other actors do not help. But both do far, far better than Ridley Scott. Scott, who directed such classics as Alien and the Blade Runner is out of his depth here, and doesn't even seen to understand what kind of movie he's making. Scott uses the stroboscopic effect the Spielberg used in the opening battle scenes in Saving Private Ryan , but it doesn't work here.
Continuity is lost, and with it, so is caring what even happens in the many tiring fight scenes.
A few gaffs are downright laughable. Maximus stabs the foot of an opponent with the sharp point of a battle-axe, which causes blood to come from his mouth . Yeah, I know, they didn't have fire codes back then, but they did have common sense. Would that Ridley Scott had some too. Scott just can't leave special effects alone, so CGI is invoked to pack the arenas.