Art becomes subservient to the public's taste for what is deemed enjoyable.
The film keeps reminding you in intervals of every 15-minutes, as if that was a spot to go for a commercial, that its aim is primarily to please the crowd. Though, it lacks the kind of political intrigue to be considered in the same class with Kubrick's last fling with Hollywood, Spartacus. In modern times, it comes closest to aping Braveheart. The love between Aurelius and Maximus is mutual, much like a father and son relationship. Maximus wins a bloody battle over Germania, the last resistance from the barbarians, which takes 10-minutes of the opening of the film to accomplish.