For the glory of rome - Gladiator Reviews

I have to think a lot to find anything negative about Gladiator. Formidable visuals, sets and especially costumes, three hours gone in what seems to be only one, and exceptional performances by Russel Crowe and, even more, by Joaquin Phoenix. Gladiator also provides a very good opportunity to look back at how advanced Rome was in matters of politics and philosophy at the peeks of its civilization. Just like the Greeks did before them, the Romans discovered that checks were needed to control the arbitrary power of the ruler, be it an Emperor or an elected body. Two milleniums later and we are not much more advanced than them at finding what the good checks are... What we certainly discovered in our western civilizations, though, is respect for life. These ancient times were obviously barbaric in that respect, as the story of gladiator games shows. But back to the movie, it is outstanding, in all respects. Perhaps a few negative points would be the like-bombs that the Roman army was throwing in the opening sequence - I think that was mostly science-fiction - and the fact that Commodus decided to fight Maximus after only hurting his left arm... that did not make much sense.