> Gladiator

The movie starts of with war scence between the romans led by maximus decimus meredius against the barbarians.
the scence very well shows the love of his soilders for him and his abilities as a general which lead him to savage bloody battle, yet spectacular in every which way you look at it!

"Maximus - At my signal, unleash hell. "

after the battle is over the emperor marcus Aurelius accompanies Maximus and congratulates "rome greatest general".
Maximus is a good guy who has the love of Caesar, and of Caesar's daughter Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), but that earns him the jealousy of Caesar's son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix).
the tension built between maximus and commodus when they meet after the battle is over is built up well throughout the movie!
but when commodus learns that his father wants to declare maximus as the hier to the throne of the roman empire, he kills his father and then orders the execution of maximus andc rucifies Maximus' wife and son -- then burns them alive for good measure.

Maximus escapes his execution, but is captured at his burned-out farm and sold into slavery. An ex-gladiator named Proximo who trains him for stardom in the arena. He becomes immensely popular in suburban arenas, and when Commodus calls for 150 days of games to honor his father and appease the people, Maximus (known only as "The Spaniard") is shipped to Rome to participateEventually, Maximus fights in the Colosseum in Rome.
the battle of the barbarian horde and the scipio africano is filmed very nicely. Maximus with his amazing ability as a general helps his friends survive the battle.
but when commodus comes down to honour the slave he is shocked at the revelation.


"commodus - slave, how dare you turn your back on me? you would remove your helmet and tell me your name.
Maximus - My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."

this just has to be the height of the tension that was first shown at the end of the battle with the barbarians!

Commodus, isn't happy to see him alive. Commodus makes immediate plans for Maximus' messy and hasty demise.
Maximus is helped by proximo but is captured and for the one last time has to fight the emperor himself.

" Commodus: The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story! But now, the people want to know how the story ends. Only a famous death will do. And what could be more glorious than to challenge the Emperor himself in the great arena?"

Maximus is wounded and the wound covered by armour, but as he he lived to kill the only man left to kill, he gets it done! ]
Commodus is dead, (in real life, commodus reign lasted for 12 years, though in the movie it seems it lasted only for a few months)
lucius is safe, for he shall be the next roman emperor!

The man with the army behind him, the mob in his control, had the change to rule rome and perhaps be its greatest ruler, yet a dream that was rome had to be realised without him .

in the words of markus aurelius - There was a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish, it was so fragile.

I love battle epics.. and for sure enjoyed gladiator. the war scences, the blood the gore was all well picturized.
the direction by ridley scott was very well done too
Perhaps Scott's greatest achievement with Gladiator is neither keeping the pacing of a 2 1/2 hour movie tight nor choreographing a spectacular battle scene, but creating a second-century Rome that is entirely credible and stunning in its detail. the grandeur of the Coliseum, for example, has been resurrected to its full glory (largely through the use of digital technology).

the acting was far from perfect, but still pretty good. and ifact i liked commodus's role! Perfect performance as Commodus put enough of a human face on evil to keep this picture from descending into camp.

overall a great movie, loved it !!