# Gladiator (2000) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 26, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289 "2014-05-26T16:31:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/21 "2014-05-27T04:01:57Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Memento was the best movie from 2000. I agree, although it came too late for that year’s Academy Awards. It was considered the following year. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/22 "2014-05-27T05:20:52Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Personally, I wasn’t especially impressed by _Crouching Tiger_ or _Gladiator_. Nice technical feats, to be sure, but the stories were lackluster and in the case of _Tiger_, sleep-inducing. > > I would’ve voted for _Traffic_. I’d have voted for _Snatch_ but it wasn’t nominated. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/23 "2014-05-27T05:29:12Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > There are historical inaccuracies and then there are historical _inaccuracies_. I don’t in the least mind that the movie shows Marcus Aurelius bringing the Marcomannic Wars to an end with a victory in the beginning of the film ( didn’t happen ). I don’t mind Marcus Aurelius being shown as being murdered by a jealous Commodus who was going to be passed over ( didn’t happen ). So far they’re dealing in the realm of reasonable fudging of the historical record for the sake of dramatic license. S’okay by me. > > But having Commodus die in the arena while this Maximus guy waxes triumphant? Yeah, no. It takes my suspension of disbelief as a history student, craps on it, sets on fire, dries it up, then disperses it to the wind with a building-sized powered fan :D. Can’t take it. > > **Inglourius Bastards** is an entirely different sort of thing ( love it, by the way ). But Ridley Scott doesn’t get a pass from me. Nor does Michael Hirst for **Elizabeth** for that matter. Some things are just beyond the pale ;). I’m usually able to just roll my eyes at historical inaccuracies in movies and enjoy the show (as long as it’s okay otherwise). But for some reason, the historical inaccuracies in _Anastasia_ bothered me. You’d think I’d have been able to get past bad history in a movie that had a talking bat but I couldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Gerald\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Gerald\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerald_II)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/24 "2014-05-27T05:38:27Z")
I thought Traffic and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon were both better than Gladiator. Traffic was slightly complex in how the four stories were connected, and I especially liked the way they differentiated each segment visually. The Mexico scenes were grainy, the drug czar’s story was filtered blue, etc. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had some amazing fight choreography, and a superior story to that of Gladiator. It was a little more unique in that it didn’t focus on Li Mu Bai’s avenging his teacher. Instead it was about missed opportunities and wasting one’s life out of a misplaced sense of duty or tradition. Gladiator was more a conventional story of an action hero ultimately getting revenge after having his family murdered. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/25 "2014-05-27T06:08:16Z")
I’m waiting for _Crouching Gladiator, Hidden Traffic_. THAT will be great! ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/26 "2014-05-27T17:38:02Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > 2000 was a poor year for mainstream movies. I disagree. Cast Away, O Brother Where Art Thou, High Fidelity, 28 Days, American Psycho, Chicken Run, Unbreakable, 13 Days. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/27 "2014-05-27T18:14:43Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > I think the blowback on it winning Best Picture is fairly ridiculous. It has a great soundtrack… No, it doesn’t. It has a shitty, derivative soundtrack using a poorly synthesized “orchestra” that egregiously rips off real, and much better music: namely Gustav Holst’s _The Planets_. To be fair, _The Planets_ has been ripped off by innumerable film composers. Just none as unimaginatively and transparently as Hans Zimmer, whose reputation as a hack is pretty well deserved. Otherwise I think it’s a pretty good movie, and Crowe is perfectly adequate, even good. “Are you NOT entertained?!” The Academy Awards are pure bullshit anyway. I never quite understand why anyone takes them so very seriously. So what if a mediocre movie with acceptable talent but shit for a soundtrack won a couple awards? So what if lots of people think there were better movies and actors from that year? Happens all the time. By which I mean, every year they hold the Academy Awards. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/28 "2014-05-27T18:25:01Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > I’ve never understood people’s unhappiness with historical inaccuracies. At no point did I ever feel I was _supposed_ to be watching an accurate film. I’m sure you already know that Commodus did actually fight in the matches…but besides that they already set him up as being a loony. > > But back to historical inaccuracies in movies, a couple of examples people have cited: _U-571_…_Saving Private Ryan_…who cares??? It’s a work of fiction. No one is trying to steal the British’s thunder. Great, it was actually the Brits who captured Enigma. BFD. This (U-571) is a movie with a frigging German cruiser running around all by itself in the SW Atlantic. Do people believe _The Enemy Below_ actually happened?. How about why does a Spanish general in the Roman Army speak with an Australian accent? Or that some sort of British accent is used in EVERY portrayal of ancient Rome? Is it because it sounds pompous and “imperial”? It’s Italy! They should-a talk-a like-a this! ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/29 "2014-05-27T18:41:19Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > …Hans Zimmer, whose reputation as a hack is pretty well deserved. I thought better of this comment. He’s not always a hack. But sometimes (for example, in _Gladiator_), he _really_ is. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/30 "2014-05-27T18:42:28Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > How about why does a Spanish general in the Roman Army speak with an Australian accent? Or that some sort of British accent is used in EVERY portrayal of ancient Rome? Is it because it sounds pompous and “imperial”? > > It’s Italy! They should-a talk-a like-a this! Well, they wouldn’t let Crowe use a Spanish accent like he wanted…not that any kind of Spanish accent would even exist back then. As for the soundtrack…and the use of Lisa Gerrard? I disagree on the transparency. I have a kabillion soundtracks, and “Planets”. I picked up on the Conan soundtrack connection immediately, and now that you mention it can see some connection with Gladiator, but it’s not THAT transparent. Especially since I think the Maximus motif (which has nothing to do with Planets) is more profound. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/31 "2014-05-27T18:50:58Z")
And I’m not a Zimmer fan by any means, in fact Gladiator, and LOTR are probably the last soundtracks I’ve bought. Not a fan of modern soundtracks at all. I guess I liked some of Casino Royale. I SHOULD of liked Skyfall, but it was too busy. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/32 "2014-05-27T19:38:19Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > At least for me ( and I suspect my father for physics ) it is simply that if I know the subject well enough and so many details are real enough and it is being played as straight historical drama ( not a black humor-laden setting as with **Inglourious Bastards** ), I just can’t help from _twitching_ when it gets too far out of whack. I just try not be as obnoxious about it as my father ;). I’m the same way. It’s like the Uncanny Valley Effect, but for history. I’m not bothered at all by Mel Brooks playing a Roman stand-up philosopher because it’s so wacky that there’s no real connection to any historical period. But when I see a film try make a realistic Roman setting, I want to be able to believe it. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/33 "2014-05-27T20:31:11Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > I’m the same way. It’s like the Uncanny Valley Effect, but for history. I’m not bothered at all by Mel Brooks playing a Roman stand-up philosopher because it’s so wacky that there’s no real connection to any historical period. But when I see a film try make a realistic Roman setting, I want to be able to believe it. What other film was MORE realistic? I _think_ that’s the first one I’ve seen where the Roman population wasn’t 100% lily white. Sure they could have used even more ethnicities, but it’s _some_ progress. Edit: Note…I’m well aware of all the listed inaccuracies, from the Germans looking like stone age barbarians to armies not being allowed to camp so close to Rome. I’m just saying they did a lot better job than normally seen. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/34 "2014-05-27T20:51:45Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > I think the blowback on it winning Best Picture is fairly ridiculous. It has a great soundtrack, great sound design, immense attention to detail. > > The scenes with Richard Harris and Oliver Reed were poignant as it was Reed’s last and one of Harris’s last. And frankly the scenes with Harris are fantastic. I don’t even need to defend those. > > A Best Picture film doesn’t HAVE to be bait featuring the Holocaust or a gripping biodrama or some immense physical disability overcome. Sorry, but I have to disagree with you on this. As I’ve posted elsewhere “Gladiator” goes down as the worst movie I’ve ever seen, at least in terms of my expectations of it going in and of my disappointment and disgust after watching (part of) it (my wife and I left early as we could stand no more of the violence contained within). ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/35 "2014-05-28T15:24:15Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > And I’m not a Zimmer fan by any means, in fact Gladiator, and LOTR are probably the last soundtracks I’ve bought. Not a fan of modern soundtracks at all. I guess I liked some of Casino Royale. I SHOULD of liked Skyfall, but it was too busy. That’s too bad. Because Zimmer seems to do the soundtrack for like every single action movie ever. ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/36 "2014-05-28T16:28:20Z")
Looking back, 2000 wasn’t a particularly impressive year. I remember _The Perfect Storm_ not for the film but because “X is a perfect storm” became a newspaper cliché immediately afterwards. Along with “speak truth to power”. In my opinion _Gladiator_ had all the virtues and faults of Ridley Scott’s other films. It is technically impressive and has the form of a great film; but it has a dead, empty hole where there should be an emotional core, and ultimately it feels like an efficient, well-made technical exercise. All of Ridley Scott’s films are like that. It goes back to his advertising background. He is an efficient technical director for whom the story is just a means of selling bread. I remember that the action scenes were surprisingly dull. Scott went for a “you are there” jerky-cam feel and as a consequence they don’t flow. They felt like a series of second unit shots strung together without much care. I want to stress that I grew up with computer games and can handle fast cutting if it’s done well. The human drama was basically _Rollerball_ and overall the film felt like a big empty nothing. The performances were fine, Joaquin Phoenix was great, Oliver Reed felt subdued, and in the end I would rather watch a documentary about Oliver Reed on the set of _Gladiator_ than the film itself. He supposedly out-drunk an entire Italian bar, or something. Heck, _Oliver Reed in Rome_ would be a more interesting film. _Oliver Reed and Richard Harris Take Rome_. I would pay to watch that. Looking at the top box-office films of that year - I saw most of them, I used to go to the cinema a lot - I would have picked _O Brother, Where Art Thou?_ as the best mainstream Hollywood film of that year, with _Almost Famous_ a close second. Yes, I saw _Battlefield Earth_, and it entertained me more than _Gladiator_, because it was fun to laugh at. And imagine the MST3K treatment. (Mike: “What?” Tom: “The horror! The horror!” Crow: “Mike, kill me, please”). So, I have spoken. Contrary to the opinion of mainstream society, _Gladiator_ was in fact a dull empty film. I remember it had a really bad blu-ray transfer that obliterated a lot of the fine detail and looked as if someone had run unsharp mask = 100 on it. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/37 "2014-05-28T17:29:32Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > What other film was MORE realistic? I _think_ that’s the first one I’ve seen where the Roman population wasn’t 100% lily white. Sure they could have used even more ethnicities, but it’s _some_ progress. > > Edit: Note…I’m well aware of all the listed inaccuracies, from the Germans looking like stone age barbarians to armies not being allowed to camp so close to Rome. I’m just saying they did a lot better job than normally seen. I wasn’t speaking abount “Gladiator” specifically. In fact, you are correct about it being very realistic. My comment was more generally meant about films that fall between “Gladiator” and “History of the World Part I.” Where they want to be taken seriously but fail to deliver well enough. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/38 "2014-05-28T18:05:03Z")
> [@racepug](#): > > Sorry, but I have to disagree with you on this. As I’ve posted elsewhere “Gladiator” goes down as the worst movie I’ve ever seen, at least in terms of my expectations of it going in and of my disappointment and disgust after watching (part of) it (my wife and I left early as we could stand no more of the violence contained within). Out of curiosity, what level of violence were you expecting in a movie that depicts men fighting to the death for the entertainment of others? ---
**Author:** ![FeAudrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FeAudrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FeAudrey)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/39 "2014-05-29T00:39:16Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > … Crowe probably deserves to have an Oscar, but i can think of at least five movies where he’s been far better than he was in Gladiator. Presumably including _L.A. Confidential_, which lost to _Titanic_ in half-a-dozen categories in its year, and for which Crowe’s _Gladiator_ Oscar was commonly regarded as a make-up (he hadn’t even been nominated). A problem that genuinely brillant art has is that it takes a few years for the handers-out of awards to figure out what hit them. ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289/40 "2014-05-29T13:51:45Z")
Russell Crowe delivered the line “What we do in life echoes in eternity” and no one fell on the floor laughing, so he deserves a lot of credit for that. How many of you had a problem with the 2005 **Pride and Prejudice**? Keira Knightley, whom I often enjoy as an actress, stuttered, wrinkled her nose adorably and grinned toothily through out the course of the movie playing a supposedly refined character in a deeply conventional era, anachronisms in the dialogue, a brooding Heathcliff instead of a superior Mr Darcy, the complete disembowelment of a critical plot point. By the time the very proper Lady Catherine showed up _in the middle of the night_ and was received by the family in _nightclothes_, I’d completely given up. And yet, I can watch it today. It’s like watching a cartoon. I couldn’t read a Harlequin Romance without retching but I can watch this. It’s not Jane Austen, it’s pretty people doing pretty things. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gladiator-2000/689289.md?page=3)