I found Gladiator to be an entertaining enough romp but I was let down by what I felt to be the placing of style before content, something I've honestly felt with most of Ridley Scott's films.
I've always felt on a technical level the man is a genius, but when it comes to my want for more three dimensional characters and perfomances from his casts I am often let down, and indded Gladiator was no exception.
My friend, who loved the movie, nevertheless shared my surprise when Crowe got best actor for the Maximus role ("he basically grunted his way though the movie" my friend said, which makes me chuckle to this day). Indeed, good enough as the performance is, given the rather shallow screenplay, it is Crowe's worst role. He is an absolutely excellent actor and the Academy had two great chances to give him a golden statue prior to last year.
I lost slight admiration for Scott in his visual approach to Gladiator. For me, the mass of (at times, questionable) CGI and digital matte paintings along with various aspects of the editing threw me out of the movie now and again. Hans Zimmer's overly synthesized score didn't help matters.
I've no idea if seeing Spartacus in 70mm when I was nine years old had anything to do with my feelings toward how I ultimately took to Gladiator. A lot of people claim the latter as epic, well, fair enough, but in my mind it remains spectacle and little more. Gladiator had exceptional talent behind it in many areas, had the script been stronger, more original and emotional such talent could have been put to greater use.
I do enjoy the movie, it's good entertainment and a mighty fine DVD.
Dan (UK)
