I liked the movie and also many of MouthShut reviews, esp. the one by Lora.
However, I do worry though when a movie gets a lot of acclaim solely for its EFFECTS or COSTUME or SOUNDTRACK etc (choose one of these). In Gladiator the human element of the story did not touch me as real- it seemed exaggerated and overblown. To me the best movie is the one that keeps it MOST REAL. Where the story is told in a masterly fashion. That is why my favorite movies include movies like Shawshank Redemption, Life is Beautiful, The Good the Bad the Ugly, etc. In each of these movies, besides having great effects, costumes etc. the viewer gets intimately involved with the emotions of the characters and rides the ’’emotional roller-coasters’’ involved.
Perhaps it’s just me though. TO me, a good movie, above and beyond anything else, has to tell a good story in a very good way. That’s like 70% of the grade. May be 80%. And the rest is all bonus. In Gladiator, I got tired of seeing Russell Crowe beat increasingly bigger and more fierce enemies. I mean, the 205th time he ducks to someone’s attack and beheads him before they can recover from their swing, it doesn’t do anything for me. And yes, the movie does a great job of taking us back to Ceasar’s Roam.