Customer Reviews

Gladiator (2 Discs)

5 star:		(805)
4 star:		(179)
3 star:		(97)
2 star:		(102)
1 star:		(83)

 

 

The blu-ray of Gladiator was widely criticised when it first appeared, because of the inferior quality of the transfer. Now, Paramount has gone back and remastered it, but Amazon has failed to create a new page for the new product. So if there's no way to tell which edition you are being given, there's no point in purchasing. The latest information is that the remastered edition has a yellowish UPC code on the back cover. Amazon should include a sample pic of the back, so we can see whether we are buying the new, remastered edition, or whether Paramount is just trying to sell off all the crappy old ones first. Buyer beware.

Since it's been a while since the Gladiator BD remaster release. I figured that Amazon would've cleaned out the old reject discs and stocked up with the new remastered ones.
Wrong. I just got the Gladiator BD and it's an old release, without exchange coupon or anything.
Seems to me that Amazon is trying to load all these crappy BDs off on to unsuspecting customers.
Do yourself a favour, don't buy Gladiator BD at Amazon. Buy local where you can check personally.

GLADIATOR is riveting cinema, the kind of movie that grabs you by the throat. The stakes are high, the ancient Roman Empire stunningly recreated, and the body of Maximus is . . . well, buff Russell Crowe. Because of the fast-paced sequences, you won't find yourself bored, or even with enough time to ponder the sometimes confusing details. (For example, if Maximus had never seen Rome, how did he know Lucilla and Commodus as children, as Marcus Aurelius states early in the film?) But this is not an intellectual movie, so why bother to figure things out? This is pure entertainment, as much gory spectacle as the Roman gladiator contests in the Colliseum. Add a wronged Roman General (Crowe), an effeminate, incest-craving, and slimy new Caesar (Joaquin Phoenix, who portrays Commodus so well his screen presence gave me the creeps), his beautiful and scheming sister Lucilla (Connie Nielson), and a bunch of slaves who band together behind the mysterious Spaniard to save their lives on the largest life-and-death stage, the gladiator arena, and you have Ridley Scott's Gladiator. You will be rooting for Maximus to exact his revenge no matter how peace-loving you thought you were.

I found it ironic - and a little self-referential - when a Roman senator declares that people will love you if you bring them death. This film thrives on slaughter, from start to finish, as it portrays the brutal side of the Roman Empire. Although the butchering is not as graphic as in some films, avoid this film if you can't stand violence. Children, too, should be steered clear of this one. Take the rating seriously.

I seldom write reviews for anything, but for a movie like 'Gladiator' I'm willing to make an exception, and gosh if it's worth doing it!!
The movie, by far the best of the year 2000, is not only an award-winning production, but it is also one of the few that I personally enjoy watching again and again and again. Not because it is flawless (at times the storyline is quite predictable) but because it portrays life and death in the Roman Empire in such a way that it really bring those old buildings we all know since childhood (the Coliseum, the Forum, Via Appia, etc) back to life.
And yet it does so not at the expense of the story but through it, from the characters, to the script (they're so many quotables lines from Maximus and Commudus alone to make a CD)...in fact everything in the movie, from the battle in Germanica to the last fight at the Coliseum, is portrayed with realism plus an amazing score lacking in so many movies these days.
The movie of course is not to be seen as "history" in the academic sense but rather as an historical exercise, Holywood style, of one of the most facinating and complex periods of Western History. The attention to the detail is amazing, especially in the opening scene (the battle in Germanica) and the gladiatorial fights. Even most deleted scenes are great in the sense that they allow us to understand the characters a little bit more (Commudus' sword smashing of his father's marble bust is a most see), although they neither add nor take of the story. The casting is superb, with Russell Crow in the main role, Joaquin Phoenix as the Emperor Commudus, along with such legends as Oliver Reed as the freedman slaveholder and Richard Harris as the great Marcus Aurelius.
I'll recomend strongly that anyone who sees this movie shoudl do his/her homework and do a little of reading about Rome, both as a Republic and after, and the huge importance of the entertaining business in her late everyday life (an importance unreached until recent times).
Overall, a classic epic of an scope and ambition not seen since 'Ben Hur'; full of action, drama... and yes, more action.
As the Romans themselves said, Faber est quisque fortunae suae... each one is the architect of his own fortune. Feliciter!

This is by far my favorite movie! Russell Crowe's acting is superb. All parts of this movie are fasinating and entertaining. I would recomend this movie to ANYONE. If you haven't seen it yet, you're missing out! This film has everything important to a good plot and screenplay. Drama drama drama!

This movie is so good. I just loved the action in it. The blood is somethings too much but other than that you could ask for a better movie. The historical aspect of the movie was very good. Execpt the Marcus Aurelius, the Emperor at the beging of the movie, never wanted to restore the Republic no on else wanted to do this as well. The thumbs up and down were not correct if you had lived in anctient Rome. Thumbs up was death and down was life becuase death was the enterainment to the Romans. However the fight at the beging of te movie distplayed very actruate military moves. There actually was a German tribe that envaded the Empire in 167 B.C. during the rule of Marcus Aurelius. The formations of the centurian was accurate but Marcus Aurelius died of cancer and not of his son as in the movie. The Gladiator fights themselves were very well done. The Romans actually did fights in which one group was a particular army and the other was the good people. Such as the fight in which Maximus' gladiators were Hannibal's men and the others were Scipio Africanus' men. The two armies dipictied were actullay real people that were alive during the Punic Wars in which Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal's men a the battle of Zama in 202 B.C. The section in which Maximus was trying to get his army back becuase his army thought he was dead. Was very well done becuase due to the fact that Rome became a professional army due to Marius and their loyalty rested with thier Generals not Rome. So this is why Maximus could have marched on Rome with his army if they had gotten reunited. This is one of my favorite movies I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did and still am.

This movie is one of my favorites. Russell Crowe was great in it, and everything was just perfect. Loads of fighting, and teary eye moments. You'll cheer on Maximus 'til the end. (I can't really write reviews but someone gave this film a bad review... and thats not right)

Crowe does a fantastic acting job here.

Gladiator is one of my favorite movies. It has action, drama, great cinematography, outstanding fight scenes, love, great acting, and most importantly, it's a great story.

For those who haven't seen it I don't want to give away the entire plot. Briefly, Maximus, the virtuous and victorious commander of the Roman army over the Visigoths, is asked by the dying Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, to become the protectorate of Rome upon his death and return the rule of law to the Senate, making Rome once again a Republic. Aurelius's evil and ambitious son, Commodus - fully expecting to made emperor himself - will have none of it, striking out against his father and destroying Maximus. Maximus becomes a slave, then a gladiator, eventually finding himself fighting in the Roman Coliseum in front of his nemesis, Commodus.

The story has somewhat of classic plot line - similar in some ways to the Tale of Monte Cristo as Maximus seeks revenge, but more than revenge, he seeks to carry out the wishes of a dying emperor and a higher cause. The movie also paints Maximus as the classic Republican citizen, who wants nothing more after securing victory for Rome than to go home to his family and farm. Unfortunately, events conspire against him as he forced to make yet another sacrifice for this country. Even at the bitter end he seeks to serve Rome.

On a side note, unlike others I didn't find the special features that interesting. They were pretty typical "The Making Of" documentaries. And the historical piece was not that new, to me at least.

This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and everything is just great, including the story, acting, and definately the music. Go see it!