Rob's Movie Review

Movie: Gladiator

Director: Ridley Scott

Starring: Russell Crowe , Joaquin Phoenix , Oliver Reed, Spencer Treat Clark , Ralf Moellerl

What it's about: A General in the Roman Army, Maximus, is a good friend with the current Caesar who is dying. The Caesar's son is planning on becoming the next Emperor of Rome but is shocked when he finds that the Emperor has named Maximus as Emperor, and wants Maximus to return the rule of Rome to the people by making the Senate the ruling body. The son, Commodus, kills his father in a fit of jealous rage and assumes the throne. His first action is to have Maximus killed by his own troops. Maximus escapes only to find that Commodus has had his family killed as well. Maximus is taken prisoner by a band of slave traders and sold into the life of a Gladiator. Eventually Maximus is brought to Rome to fight in the Coliseum as a Gladiator in the games. There he hatches a plan to kill Commodus and grant his friend's last request of returning Rome to the people by abolishing the title of Emperor and making the Senate the ruling party of Rome.

What I thought: WOW! It was incredible! The acting was really good and they didn't confuse the main plot with a lot of sub plots. There was a romantic story to it that did seem to be tacked on, but it actually did help to advance the story a bit. The ending was a bit predictable because of the romantic story line but that's ok. They had Maximus befriend one of the other slaves but they only used that friendship to advance the story and not to confuse you or introduce a new actor. It also made the ending a lot more emotional than I thought it was going to be.
The fighting was just WOW. Russell Crowe was really good in this. The fights were not all that gratuitous (meaning there wasn't more violence than there should have been) but there was a lot of blood. It made me question the AA 14 rating it got here in Ontario. The action though was really good. they must have practiced a lot to get the arena scenes down pat.
But, perhaps the best part of the movie was the special effects. The CG animation was incredible. Most of it was so well done it was difficult to tell what was faked and what was real, even though you KNOW they didn't build huge sets like that or hire that many extras. There were a few minor flaws but being the kind of person that I am I sometimes go out of my way to find them. They were hard to spot but they were so tiny that they didn't take away from the overall effect of the movie or screw up the scene they were in.
However there was one part of the movie that made me REALLY question the AA 14 rating the movie got and that was the relationship between Commodus and his sister. Realizing that that was the way things were in Rome, sometimes, didn't really help in settling my mind about the insinuations. One of my friends that watched the movie with me was a bit put off by it too. And I found that it really didn't do all that much to advance the story at all. I think the movie could have done without it myself. This is pretty much the only bad thing I could find about the movie though so it's definitely worth the money I paid for it.

Rob's Rating (out of five bags)

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Movie:	Gladiator
Director:	Ridley Scott
Starring:	Russell Crowe , Joaquin Phoenix , Oliver Reed, Spencer Treat Clark , Ralf Moellerl
What it's about:	A General in the Roman Army, Maximus, is a good friend with the current Caesar who is dying. The Caesar's son is planning on becoming the next Emperor of Rome but is shocked when he finds that the Emperor has named Maximus as Emperor, and wants Maximus to return the rule of Rome to the people by making the Senate the ruling body. The son, Commodus, kills his father in a fit of jealous rage and assumes the throne. His first action is to have Maximus killed by his own troops. Maximus escapes only to find that Commodus has had his family killed as well. Maximus is taken prisoner by a band of slave traders and sold into the life of a Gladiator. Eventually Maximus is brought to Rome to fight in the Coliseum as a Gladiator in the games. There he hatches a plan to kill Commodus and grant his friend's last request of returning Rome to the people by abolishing the title of Emperor and making the Senate the ruling party of Rome.
What I thought:	WOW! It was incredible! The acting was really good and they didn't confuse the main plot with a lot of sub plots. There was a romantic story to it that did seem to be tacked on, but it actually did help to advance the story a bit. The ending was a bit predictable because of the romantic story line but that's ok. They had Maximus befriend one of the other slaves but they only used that friendship to advance the story and not to confuse you or introduce a new actor. It also made the ending a lot more emotional than I thought it was going to be. The fighting was just WOW. Russell Crowe was really good in this. The fights were not all that gratuitous (meaning there wasn't more violence than there should have been) but there was a lot of blood. It made me question the AA 14 rating it got here in Ontario. The action though was really good. they must have practiced a lot to get the arena scenes down pat. But, perhaps the best part of the movie was the special effects. The CG animation was incredible. Most of it was so well done it was difficult to tell what was faked and what was real, even though you KNOW they didn't build huge sets like that or hire that many extras. There were a few minor flaws but being the kind of person that I am I sometimes go out of my way to find them. They were hard to spot but they were so tiny that they didn't take away from the overall effect of the movie or screw up the scene they were in. However there was one part of the movie that made me REALLY question the AA 14 rating the movie got and that was the relationship between Commodus and his sister. Realizing that that was the way things were in Rome, sometimes, didn't really help in settling my mind about the insinuations. One of my friends that watched the movie with me was a bit put off by it too. And I found that it really didn't do all that much to advance the story at all. I think the movie could have done without it myself. This is pretty much the only bad thing I could find about the movie though so it's definitely worth the money I paid for it.