[Abundy]

Sorry, you are wrong. Gladiator created a wonderful story filled with incredible special effects that illustrates that good will triumph over evil only if people are willing to die for that cause.

The difference in the characters and how they dealt with the Emporer illustrates that true heros value a principle more than their own lives - all one has to do is look to the difference between the Emporer's sister, who knows that the Emporer must be removed or her child will suffer in the long run but can't bring herself to go through with opposing the Emporer to the Maximus, the Slave Owner and the Senator who opposes the Emporer.

Maximus dies, as does the slave owner - but they did what was right. The Senator survives, as does the Emporer's sister, but one will live with the knowledge that her betrayal killed Maximus and the other can hold his head up high.

It doesn't get any better than that.

[Physicist]

It doesn't get any better than that.

Two complaints about Gladiator: 1) they rearranged the history when they didn't have to, and 2) the cinematography was awful. Everthing was dark and indistinct, even in broad daylight. They spent lord knows how much money creating a CG virtual Rome, and the shots of it look like the old Burger King "I Love This Place!" commercials.

[Physicist]

I should add, however, that I loved the movie. The story was great and the combat was spectacular. Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix were excellent.

[sakic]

You didn't review the merits of the movie. You reviewed it based on good triumphing over evil. This has nothing to do with whether a movie is any good. The most important part of any movie is the writing and acting. Both were horrendous in this movie.

Using your logic, movies like "Armageddon" are great movies too.

[sakic]

On another note, 2001 may have been the weakest year in quite some time. The only one that I thought very good was "The Deep End", with a guaranteed Oscar nomination for Tilda Swinton. There were some other good ones. After the end of the year I'll let you know which one's made the Sakic Top Ten List (not that you or anyone else cares).