It's hard to review a movie of this type. Many people have labelled it as an 'epic' movie with spectacular speciial effects and great battle scenes rivaling those of Braveheart. Unfortunately, I must have missed those parts, for all I saw was a reasonably good movie with a great opening scene bookended with a spectacular closing fight, with basically no real substance in the middle. Calling this film an 'epic' is stretching the truth a little too far. While it may contain an epic storyline, the film itself is far from epic. The plot and subplots are easy to see coming and there really isn't much to hold this film together except for the occasional fight within the walls of the colloseum.

Russell Crowe does a great job as Maximus/Gladiator, a Roman general reduced to a slave, then forced to be a gladiator, and finally, defying the Roman Emperor (Joaquin Phoenix). Once again, an epic storyline is put in front of us, but there just isn't enough substance to the movie to substantiate the 'greatness' this movie strives for. Don't get me wrong, this movie is highly entertaining. The opening battle scene, while a bit disjointed (purposefully), features some great special effects and on a whole sets the tone for the whole movie. If only the whole movie could have followed in these great footsteps...

The main complaint I had with the movie is the predictable plot and sometimes dry storylines. Between battle scenes and fights within the ring, there isn't much holding the movie together. Director Ridley Scott tries to keep the movie flowing with intrigue and scandal, but at times, the movie crawls to a stop and can't get any momentum until another fight comes along. With every fight, you get the audience back into the movie, but unfortunately, the whole film can't be a fight, so the main plot story evolves. Whereas there were some great performances within this plot-line, especially from Joaquin Phoenix and Connie Nielsen, it wasn't enough to keep me entertained throughout.

On the other hand, the special effects were enough to keep me entertained. The gorgeous backdrops of Rome, fit in perfectly in the story (rather than placed there just to show off the gorgeous backdrops), along with the spectacular recreations of the Colosseum combine to make this film a visual treat. The special effects during the battle are also equally stimulating - including the fiery arrows launched hundreds at a time to the enormous catapults slinging fire bombs down upon the enemy.

While not relying on visual stimulation throughout the whole film, we are presented a plot with all of the necessary subplots including sabatoge, intrigue, the ubiquitous love affair, and more. It may seem that these would all keep the audience interested throughout, but unfortunately, it doesn't. I enjoyed this movie somewhat. Whereas the fighting scenes (especially the first and the last) were spectacular visual treats, the main plot just wasn't enough to hold my attention throughout. There's no doubt many will call Gladiator the best film of the year, maybe even at year end, and there's no doubt that it will most likely garner a few Academy Award nods for special effects and editing, but overall, Gladiator wasn't able to live up to the hype and was a victim of its own success.

Genres: Drama, Action
Rated: R - For intense, graphic combat.
Runtime: 154 minutes
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