Gladiator (US)

Lets get one thing straight, Gladiator has the highest production values of any film made in the last 10 years (on a par with "Titanic"). The sheer amount of people involved is testament to the commitment of the director.
So then, this film should be flawless right? wrong!. It`s GOOD, but it fails to convince in a couple of areas. principally the ending, which initially seems bold (don`t want to spoil it, so won`t say what happens exactly), is undermined by a sickly sweet finale. This left a bad taste in my mouth and soured me on the rest of the film, as did the dream sequences which are typical of Scott and his overly fantastical approach.

The action scenes are impressive, especially the opening battle, but if you aim your film at a mainstream audience, then you lose the courage to show unsettling occurences. Such as Maximus` dog which appears in the opening scenes but vanishes without further mention - why?, what happened to him?. Are we unable to cope with the death of an animal?.

The acting is okay and basic storyline is solid (although predictable), the directing on the other hand is patchy. I know this will provoke people into saying "but Ridley Scott is a genius!" well, I disagree and consider him technically adequate but he can`t tell a story without embellishments. Check out the deleted scenes for proof of bad editorial decisions - he cut Reed telling Crowe to entertain the crowd and Phoenix attacking his father`s statue. Both those scenes would have helped the cohesion of the tale and yet he leaves in suggestive rubbish (like the dreamy visuals), get a grip man!. Who really cares about symbolism and arty shots when basic narrative is being neglected?.

The DVD however is nigh on perfect and continues the high quality values of the film itself.

Gladiator`s far from a disaster, I said it was good remember?, I just feel that they`ve squandered the opportunity to make the best film of this decade.

"Gladiator" is one of the coolest movies I`ve seen in a long time.Dreamworks has released as a 2-disc loaded with extras.

The film is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen.The picture is pretty great,and the opening battle looks pretty good despite intentional desaturation.

The audio on this disc is nothing short of spectacular with your of Dolby 5.1 EX or DTS ES 6.1.The Dolby track is
remarkably aggresive and rarely lets up.Hans Zimmer`s music
sounds terrific.The only extra on disc 1 is a terrific audio
commentary with Director Ridley Scott,Editor Pietro Scalia,
and Cinematographer John Mathieson.

Disc 2 features deleted scenes with optional commentary,
a documentary on gladiators games,Zimmer`s music,and a the film`s making.A production diary from Spencer Treat Clark
is also availible as is more stuff.