Gladiator (2000)
The sword and sandals genre of action movies is rarely seen today. But right at the turn of the 21 st Century, the genre was revived in the most unlikeliest of ways. And the film that started this new revival was the 2000 film “Gladiator”, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russel Crowe. When it was released, it got rave reviews and even won the Oscar for Best Picture. Now that the film has seen the passage of time, we can clearly see that the movie has aged by just a little bit. While not absolutely perfect, “Gladiator” is one of those movies that definitely takes its time, but revels in its own visual style. The story follows a Roman soldier by the name of Maximus (Crowe), who just won an impressive battle for the current emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris). All Maximus wants to do now is go home to see his wife and son. Unfortunately, Marcus Aurelius wants to appoint Maximus as the next successor to Rome; this displeases his son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), who proceeds t