Gladiator is a roman epic of true proportions following in the footsteps of greats such as Spartacus and Ben Hur. This is a stunning visual and at times emotional display from start to finish featuring love, murder, betrayal and fantastic action sequences in a roman setting. Russell Crowe delights as a Roman general who finds himself betrayed and forced to become a gladiator. The story focuses on him and his fellow gladiators as they try to gain their freedom defying the might of the new (and truly despicable) Caesar whom Crowe has vowed vengeance against.
The storyline is perhaps nothing new, same plot different location, but the performances and the visual effects are spectacular and it was refreshing to see a blockbuster movie which was so perfectly cast - no reliance upon ’names’ to carry the film here. Even though some parts are true Hollywood they are lost amongst the rest of the film which I found captivating from start to finish.
This film is to be recommended to anyone who enjoys action films although there are some gory moments which may put some people off.
A must see film