Customer Reviews

Gladiator (Sapphire Series, Extended Cut) [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(807)
4 star:		(179)
3 star:		(97)
2 star:		(103)
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.

HISTORY:

On September 1st, 2009, Paramount released Gladiator to blu ray for the first time. Along with Braveheart, it signaled the beginning of the studio's Sapphire line of blu rays, celebrating their top titles. What it turned out to be was a disaster, Gladiator was given a botched, dated master riddled with DNR and edge enhancement.

With screams of anger from the home theater community, Paramount heard the shouting, and officially instituted a replacement program on July 20th, 2010. The newly remastered version was a complete stunner, in total contrast to the earlier version. I delayed buying this disc because I was afraid that I would end up buying the old botched version.

How to tell the difference from the outside: After searching through many websites, especially The Digital Bits, the answer is the new version has YELLOW UPC label!

I delayed in buying this new version also because the price was usually near $30. Now, finally, the latest price is $12.99. So I took a chance, and the disc that I received has a Yellow UPC label! Happy! I am even more overjoyed when I found that the new video transfer was simply stunning.

Now my review begins:

VIDEO:

Gladiator arrives at blu ray with MPEG-4 AVC 1080p 2.35:1 encode. I have read reviews on the old transfer and was aware of all its deficiencies. But when I watched this new transfer, the picture is simply stunning. No more excessive DNR and edge enhancement. In its place is a beautiful, film-like effort. Image is razor sharp. There are lots of fine details, like the details of the intricate pattern worn by Joaquin Phoenix after he takes over Rome. Instead of a flickering, shimmering mess, this transfer restores the brilliance of the texture and design with no visible defects. The entire video also takes on a much warmer tone. Wonderfully calibrated black levels are phenomenal, maintaining shadow detail while keeping the depth of the frame evident. I am very happy with this new transfer. (4.5/5)

AUDIO:

Though not the most earth-shattering, record-breaking, eardrum-busting mix out there, Gladiator's DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack is well above average across the board. The opening battle sequence sets the stage nicely. Arrows that fly through the soundstage during the picture's intense opening action sequence are accompanied by a continuous whoosh as they fly through the air towards their targets. Dialogue is pitch perfect. (4.5/5)

MOVIE STORYLINE:

Maximus is a powerful Roman general, loved by the people and the aging Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Before his death, the Emperor chooses Maximus to be his heir over his own son, Commodus, and a power struggle leaves Maximus and his family condemned to death. The powerful general is unable to save his family, and his loss of will allows him to get captured and put into the Gladiator games until he dies. The only desire that fuels him now is the chance to rise to the top so that he will be able to look into the eyes of the man who will feel his revenge. There are two versions in this set: Theatrical version (155 minutes) and Extended Version (177 minutes). The Extended Version is preferred. Movie: (4.5/5)

AWARDS:

Winners of five Academy Awards in 2001:
BEST PICTURE
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE: Russell Crowe
BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Janty Yates
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: John Nelson, Neil Corbould, Tim Burke, Rob Harvey
BEST SOUND: Scott Millan, Bob Beemer, Ken Weston

Nominations for Academy Awards in 2001:
BEST ACTOR IN SUPPORTING ROLE: Joaquin Phoenix
BEST ART DIRECTION, SET DECORATION
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
BEST DIRECTOR: Ridney Scott
BEST FILM EDITING
BEST MUSIC, ORIGINAL SCORE: Hans Zimmer
BEST SCREENPLAY

TRIVIA:

It has an estimated budget of $103 million. Its worldwide gross was $457 million.

Oliver Reed suffered a fatal heart attack during principal photography. Some of his sequences had to be re-edited and a double, photographed in the shadows and with a 3D CGI mask of Reed's face, was used as a stand-in. The film is dedicated to his memory.

Maximus' (Russell Crowe) description of his home (specifically how the kitchen is arranged and smells in the morning and at night) was ad-libbed - it's a description of Crowe's own home in Australia.

Contrary to rumor, Enya didn't record any music for the soundtrack of this film. The song simply sounds like something she would have recorded. The song, and in fact much of the soundtrack, was composed and sung by Lisa Gerrard.

Russell Crowe was continually unhappy with the screenplay, rewriting much of it to suit his own ends. He would frequently walk off the set if he didn't get his way. The famous line "In this life or the next, I will have my vengeance" he initially refused to say, telling writer William Nicholson "Your lines are garbage but I'm the greatest actor in the world and I can make even garbage sound good".

Replica of about one third of Rome's Colosseum was built in Malta to a height of 52 feet, mostly from plaster and plywood. The remainder of the building was added in digitally. It took several months to build at a reputed cost of $1 million. In the Colosseum scenes, only the bottom two decks are actually filled with people. The other thousands of people are computer-animated.

FINAL THOUGHT:

Gladiator is a great movie that deserved the Oscar for Best Picture. The same can be said for Russell Crowe, playing Maximus. A big thank you to Paramount Studios to listen to all the customers who complained about the initial bad transfer, and has the gut to admit the mistake, redid the transfer with a replacement programme in 2011. This new transfer has done great justice to this wonderful movie. Remember, the new version is the one with the yellow UPC label at the back. I would assume by now, all the old ones have gone off the market already on Amazon. Further, for only $12.99 now, it is definitely a real bargain. This disc is definitely highly recommended.

I hope the above review is helpful to you.

I got the parcel on time only to discover it was the DVD version and not the BluRay I originally ordered.

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.