Gladiator (El gladiador)

Gladiator is the best bread and circus. A moving and very entertaining action epic with Russel Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix at the top of their game.

I absolutely love Joaquin Phoenix in this movie. He's the kind of villain you love to hate. So pathetic and childish. So ruthless and creepy. Just right amount of cartoonish. I wanted to punch him in the face.

It can be corny and it drags a bit during the escape plan part of the plot, but it has enough emotion and brutal violence to keep the audience entertained, and that's what a good gladiator match should be.

I love history, and to me, Gladiator is a masterpiece. It is the most accurate picture of the Roman Empire Hollywood has ever put out. People declare Spartacus a masterpiece, but Gladiator far outdoes Spartacus in quality. The costuming, the acting, the screenplay, the scenery, and the fighting styles made me think that I had traveled back to 180 A.D. Russell Crowe is a true Hollywood tough guy, and he is superb in this movie. Joaquin Phoenix is outstanding as a villain, one of the best in movie history. He played his character as if it were a psychologist's dream case. Connie Nielsen plays one of the strongest female characters that I have ever seen. The choreographer of the action sequences was brilliant. Ridley Scott did an outstanding job in recreating the Empire, including the multitude of ethnic groups within the Empire and accurately depicting everyday life. If you're looking for insight into what the Roman Empire was like, this is a perfect depiction.

How good is Russell Crowe though, easily one of my favourite actors. Joaquin Phoenix play the role of a little weasel very well. Absolute classic of a film.

20 years on, the first DVD I bought is still a barnstorming, thrilling ride. There's so much to recommend this - Lisa Gerrard & Hans Zimmer's iconic score, the canny casting of Joaquin Phoenix as a foil for Crowe; the realisation that I quote this film in everyday conversation far more than I thought I did. If it should have won the Oscars is a moot point - this is another of Ridley Scott's superb worldbuilding - one of his primary film-making skills, giving us a Rome that feels recognisable yet still a break from the cliché's that had seeped in to popular culture before this. That the film's status was boosted by the DVD boom as it made its way to home release is undeniable, but this remains a film that thrills, absorbs and grips.

"Are you not entertained?!?!"

One of the most perfect movies ever made. The pacing, the characterization & development. Hans Zimmer's score. John Mathieson's cinematography. Career-making acting from Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, & Djimon Hounsou. Everything is on point.

This movie is an integral part of Ridley Scott's holy trinity, along with Blade Runner & Alien. Endlessly rewatchable. Endlessly quotable. An epic tragedy on the level of Shakespeare & Ancient Greece.

This movie will be just as popular a hundred years from now, and no movie about Ancient Rome will have topped it.