Advantages: Great fighting scenes, excellent story.
Disadvantages: A bit too long, sometimes slightly boring.

...---------GLADIATOR--------- Released in 2000, Gladiator was one of the biggest movies of its time, and its popularity at its release can be compared with that of more recent movies such as The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Every cent of its 103 million dollar budget was used with splendor on a range of things - from all the breathtaking landscapes and scenery, to the excellently chosen cast and crew, and magnificently realistic CGI effects. ---PLOT--- The dying Emperor of Rome chooses Maximus, a General of the Roman army, to be his successor. Before he has a chance to make this decision public, he is murdered by his own son, who wanted to rule the Empire. After taking over from his father, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) orders the execution of the General Maximus (Russell Crowe) and his family. Maximus... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: A decent story, brilliant drama, powerful action sequences, stunning performances and a great soundtrack
Disadvantages: At 2 hours 44 minutes it is a very long film

...►►► Synopsis Having lead the Roman troops to victory in Germania, General Maximus (Russell Crowe) finds himself being favoured by the ageing Emperor, Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris), that is until the Emperor's own son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), betrays his father and sentences Maximus to death. But having escaped his impending doom, Maximus discovers that his wife as well as his son have been brutally murdered on the orders of Commodus. Desolate at the loss of his family, he finds himself in the slavery of Proximo (Oliver Reed) as a gladiator where he must learn to kill or be killed, especially when the gladiatorial spectacle returns to Rome for the pleasure of Commodus. ►►► Opinion "I'm not watching some historical rubbish" were the words a friend said when I invited them to watch Ridley... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Lavish sets and gorgeous costume, great cast, the lascivious undertones and the whole damn campy lot of the rest of it!
Disadvantages: Dated and cheesy, jumbled themes, muted action scenes, product constrained by its times

..."The Robe" is one of the classic movies from yesteryear. It's one of those lavish, sermonising, somewhat naive biblical epics which simply wouldn't work in modern cinema but makes for highly entertaining Sunday afternoon viewing whatever your religious persuasion in modern times. I saw The Robe recently for the first time and aside from the odd chuckle and frequent eye-rolling(because I am a cynical heathen) thoroughly enjoyed it as many have before me. Somewhat lesser known however(to me anyway :oP) is its sequel, "Demetrius and the Gladiators", which follows on directly from the events which conclude "The Robe" but this time focuses entirely on the greek slave Demetrius(Victor Mature). In a nutshell, we pick up with Roman emperor Caligula's(Jay Robinson) continuing search for the robe(as worn by Jesus when he was crucified) which... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great Film, Great cast, well diretcted
Disadvantages: Bit boring in parts

...Hi, if you are unaware I am in the middle of writing a range on opinions on different DVDs. The one you have just stumbled on is Gladiator. It is debated that this is THE best film to own and to own on DVD well that’s just, well, brilliant. Well I can tell you I am not going to argue with the critics firstly they could probably beat me in an argument any day and I did think that it was genuinely good. Having been taught every last detail about Gladiators at school I thought I would go to this film and pick out all the mistakes. WHAT MISTAKES, damn filmmakers getting it right. Plus the fact that I really wasn't thinking of mistakes when I was plunged into the First Scene, which by the way was filmed around Oxshott if any you know where that is. It's in Surrey don't you know. The film opens up with one of the best... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great script, fantastic spectacle
Disadvantages: May be too gory for some and £25 is a bit steep

...Rarely does a film create this much hype and exposure from both media and word of mouth, but I guess Gladiator is bigger than your average film. This super inflated DVD is living proof of that. It comes on two discs. Disc one contains the feature and Directors commentary; disc two features a plethora of extras (including the kitchen sink). The film itself harks back to the great epics of the fifties and early sixties, owing a great deal in particular to that other great gladiator epic, Spartacus, though you don't get Russell Crowe (Hollywood's leading man-whore) walking about in tight pants a la Kirk Douglas which I am grateful for, though some women who read this may be disappointed. Visually it is a stunning film with the digitally recreated Rome in particular taking the breath away. I don't want to give away to much of the plot... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great film, extras
Disadvantages: none

...The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. Yes, I am sure everyone out there knows the story, has seen the film, has seen the DVD and has read the reviews, still I thought I would share my pennies worth with you all! Directed by Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner), Gladiator is the story of Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) who is the general of the Roman Empire, one who controls the respect of the entire army and the people. After a huge battle in Germania, which starts this epic, Maximus is met by Emperor Marcus Aurelious who comes to congratulate Maximus and asks him to become Caesar when the time comes. All well and good, but the Emperor's son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) is obviously upset he has not been chosen to be and when he learns he will not be Caesar, he murders his own father and takes... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Much flavour
Disadvantages: Not that original

...Gladiator is in many ways a traditional Zimmer action score, with its brass fanfares, synths, predictable rhythms, and long cues (or in this case, the entire soundtrack is mixed to flow from cue to cue without any breaks). To provide softer and more etheral moments, Zimmer collaborated with Dead Can Dance founder Lisa Gerrard, whose vocal contributions can be heard in cues like "Sorrow," "Reunion" and "Now We Are Free" among others. These vocals create a kind of Arabian sound to the score, although by now such vocals are becoming more and more like a cliché in Hollywood (think about Troy?). Other contributions include the duduk solos by the instrumentalist Djivan Gasparyan in the cue "To Zucchabar" and additional material written by Klaus Badelt. Also there are extensive quotations of "Mars, the Bringer of War" from Gustav Holst... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great film well worth the watch EVERY time
Disadvantages: Nothing

...I have now seen Gladiator twice and I must say I LOVE it! With Russel Crowe starring as the actual gladiator the film is an amzing story which certainly got me going! The film based on a Gladiator fighting for his empire is a really interesting story, there are many sad parts which get you shedding the odd tear or two but there are also many better parts to the film, funny and interesting. THE STORYLINE~ A Roman general named Maximus (Russel Crowe) is put into slavery by the heir to the throne. He then becomes a gladiator. His fighting skills in the arena lead him out of slavery to find himself in Rome, fighting in the Colosseum, he ends up battling against his newly founded emporer, but who wins, you will have to watch to find out.......... THE CHARACTERS~ The main characters are Maximus who becomes the gladiator, he plays... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Absolutely Brilliant
Disadvantages: None at all

...Picture the scenes, A 22 year old lad sat after a hard day at work, NTL's playing up again so he can't surf the net, suddenly he remembers that he has that pile of DVD's that he hasn't watched (yup theres more movie reviews to come) and takes a trundle over, theres an advert comes up on the Television for the movie Gladiator, thats it hes decided its about time he got round to watching that Gladiator DVD his parents lovingly bought him at Christmas. Well, that was me on Tuesday night of this week, sorry I know its hard to forget about DVD's and I didn't forget them honest its just I never had the time. Anyway a quick background to the movie, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix & Connie Nielsen with added performances from the likes of the late great Oliver Reed and Derek Jacobi we have a tale about... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Lots of information
Disadvantages: none

...There are few things children enjoy more when studying an era of history, than finding out the gory bits! I think this is one of the successes of the Horrible Histories series- it focuses on real rather than icing cake life. This book is a bit of a misnomer because yes, they would rather know the facts contained in the book. **The Book** The book starts with a brief introduction, which sets the scene; 1st century AD, in a Roman province in Northern Europe. It states that you (the reader) still try to fight the Roman army, and then gives a few suggestions as to what might happen to you if you are unlucky enough to survive the battle and be taken as a Roman prisoner.You could be sold into slavery, sent to work in the mines, but the one thing you would NOT want to happen to you is to be sent to be trained as a gladiator... Read review

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