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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

58
Adam Resurrected
64
Appaloosa
69
Ashes of Time Redux
68
August Evening
54
Battle in Seattle
76
Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
70
Black Balloon, The
55
Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
51
Breakfast with Scot
xx
Cargo 200
63
Changeling
66
Che
84
Christmas Tale, A
93
Class, The
38
Dark Streets
57
Defiance
xx
Dostana
70
Doubt
62
Duchess, The
46
Dukes, The
63
Eden
xx
Extreme Movie
69
Fear(s) of the Dark
26
Filth and Wisdom
28
Fireproof
80
Frost/Nixon
43
Gardens of the Night
73
Girl Cut in Two, A
36
Good
54
Good Dick
73
Gran Torino
30
Guitar, The
84
Happy-Go-Lucky
31
Hounddog
26
House of the Sleeping Beauties
49
How About You
70
Hunger
72
I Served the King of England
70
I.O.U.S. A
40
Igor
79
I've Loved You So Long
64
JCVD
xx
Just Another Love Story
29
Lake City
59
Last Chance Harvey
82
Let the Right One In
31
Let Them Chirp Awhile
xx
Local Color
89
Man on Wire
74
Moscow, Belgium
36
My Name Is Bruce
28
Nobel Son
xx
Not Easily Broken
64
Nothing But the Truth
40
Other End of the Line, The
34
Otto; or Up with Dead People
75
Pool, The
78
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
xx
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
82
Rachel Getting Married
58
Reader, The
56
Religulous
32
Repo! The Genetic Opera
53
RocknRolla
64
Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
77
Secret of the Grain, The
84
Silent Light
86
Slumdog Millionaire
57
Special
80
Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
67
Synecdoche, New York
82
Tell No One
68
Theater of War
65
Timecrimes
83
Trouble the Water
43
Tru Loved
83
U2 3D
88
Waltz with Bashir
59
We Are Wizards
80
Wendy and Lucy
71
What Doesn't Kill You
55
What Just Happened?
61
Where God Left His Shoes
40
While She Was Out
81
Wrestler, The
xx
Yonkers Joe
93
Class, The
89
Man on Wire
88
Waltz with Bashir
86
Slumdog Millionaire
84
Christmas Tale, A
84
Happy-Go-Lucky
84
Silent Light
83
Trouble the Water
83
U2 3D
82
Tell No One
82
Rachel Getting Married
82
Let the Right One In
81
Wrestler, The
80
Wendy and Lucy
80
Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
80
Frost/Nixon
79
I've Loved You So Long
78
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
77
Secret of the Grain, The
76
Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
75
Pool, The
74
Moscow, Belgium
73
Gran Torino
73
Girl Cut in Two, A
72
I Served the King of England
71
What Doesn't Kill You
70
Black Balloon, The
70
Hunger
70
Doubt
70
I.O.U.S. A
69
Ashes of Time Redux
69
Fear(s) of the Dark
68
August Evening
68
Theater of War
67
Synecdoche, New York
66
Che
65
Timecrimes
64
JCVD
64
Nothing But the Truth
64
Appaloosa
64
Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
63
Changeling
63
Eden
62
Duchess, The
61
Where God Left His Shoes
59
Last Chance Harvey
59
We Are Wizards
58
Adam Resurrected
58
Reader, The
57
Special
57
Defiance
56
Religulous
55
Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
55
What Just Happened?
54
Battle in Seattle
54
Good Dick
53
RocknRolla
51
Breakfast with Scot
49
How About You
46
Dukes, The
43
Tru Loved
43
Gardens of the Night
40
While She Was Out
40
Igor
40
Other End of the Line, The
38
Dark Streets
36
My Name Is Bruce
36
Good
34
Otto; or Up with Dead People
32
Repo! The Genetic Opera
31
Hounddog
31
Let Them Chirp Awhile
30
Guitar, The
29
Lake City
28
Nobel Son
28
Fireproof
26
House of the Sleeping Beauties
26
Filth and Wisdom
xx
Just Another Love Story
xx
Dostana
xx
Cargo 200
xx
Local Color
xx
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
xx
Not Easily Broken
xx
Yonkers Joe
xx
Extreme Movie
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Gladiator
DreamWorks
 |
|
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for intense graphic combat.
Starring
Russel Crowe,
Joaquin Phoenix,
Connie Nielson,
Richard Harris,
Oliver Reed,
and
Djimon Hounsou
Before Maximus (Crowe), the heroic Roman General, can honor the wishes of his dying emperor Marcus Aurelius (Harris) by assuming the emperor's role, the emperor's cruel and corrupt son Commodus (Phoenix) orders the execution of Maximus and his family. Escaping death, Maximus assumes the life of an anonymous gladiator, fighting his way back to the Roman Colosseum where he seeks revenge and a return to justice for Rome.
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
David H. Franzoni
John Logan
William Nicholson
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Ridley Scott
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: November 21, 2000
Video: November 21, 2000
Theatrical: May 5, 2000
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
154 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
Named Best Picture at the 73rd Academy Awards. Russell Crowe also picked up an Oscar as Best Actor. Its 12 Oscar nominations in 2001 included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor (Phoenix), and Best Original Screenplay. Gladiator also picked up a Golden Globe for Best Picture (Drama) and was named Best Picture by the Broadcast Film Critics Association.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Philadelphia Inquirer
Desmond Ryan
It's a stunning Roman triumph.
100
Film.com
Ted Fry
It's that very rare feeling that you're settling into a movie whose individual elements are so finely attuned they fuse into a singular construct of pure entertainment.

91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
It lives up to the hype. Gladiator has its creaky moments, but it delivers a particular kind of visceral historical spectacle that movie audiences haven't seen in decades.

91
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
What matters for today's hero is the good fight, and Gladiator KOs us with a doozy.

90
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Glorious, a colossus of rousing action and ferocious fun.
88
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
If there's a soft spot in your heart for the sword-&-sandal epic -- and from the star rating above, I think you can guess where I stand -- then you'll swoon with giddy delight over Gladiator.

88
New York Post
Jonathan Foreman
An exhilarating, sweeping epic that begs to be seen on the largest possible screen.
88
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
Has the kind of super-cinematic qualities and bravura acting that make up for almost anything.
84
Mr. Showbiz
Cody Clark
Combining a seething physicality with enough weary nobility and tightly checked rage for a dozen wronged heroes, (Crowe) provides the movie's vital center of gravity without looming over his co-stars.
80
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
One extended guilty pleasure.

80
Time
Richard Corliss
Quite a good movie--a big, fat, rousing, intelligent, daring, retro, many-adjective-requiring entertainment.
80
Variety
Todd McCarthy
John Mathieson's widescreen cinematography is magnificent, and the pacing across 2½ hours is well modulated.

75
San Francisco Examiner
Wesley Morris
As formulaic, but occasionally outré multiplex-bound behemoths go, Gladiator is a foaming beast.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
At 2 1/2 hours, Gladiator is a long ride, but it doesn't drag.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Lacks emotional depth and sweep -- but the movie still delivers the type of rousing, large-scale adventure that marked the best films of its kind
75
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
Frequently gory, often talky, almost always watchable, never quite thrilling, Gladiator is a cold and big film that mixes solid acting with cheesy digital effects and sweaty action with stultifying chatter.
70
Newsweek
Andrea C. Basora
The fight scenes are dynamic, intricately choreographed, and downright exciting.
70
Film.com
Robert Horton
The heroism and the tigers and the epic grandeur all leave behind the flavor of cynicism.

70
TNT RoughCut
J. Rentilly
What elevates Gladiator to the near-greatness it occasionally achieves is the performance of Russell Crowe as Maximus.
70
Film.com
Sean Means
The warm humanizing element in all the cool stuff is Crowe.

70
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Brawny, he-man spectacle combined with a surprisingly solid story and buttressed by excellent performances.

63
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
It ends with the corniest convention of all: an absurd mano-a-mano between good and evil.

63
USA Today
Susan Wloszczyna
Instead of the heat of humanity, what lingers on in the mind is the cool of the computerized effects.

63
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
It epitomizes the kind of high-profile bloodshed we now expect to herald the hazy, lazy, blockbuster-fixated days of summer.
60
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Like an aging athlete who knows how to husband strength and camouflage weaknesses, it makes the most of what it does well and hopes you won't notice its limitations.

60
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
The script by producer David Franzoni, John Logan, and William Nicholson is serviceable but not exactly inspired.

60
LA Weekly
Manohla Dargis
Filled with brilliant filmmaking and features outstanding performances, but it's neither profound enough nor pop enough to be great -- it's mournful, serious, beautiful and, finally, pointless.

60
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
The digital animation is far more evident here than in "The Phantom Menace."

60
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
Grandiose and silly.

50
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Scott's filmmaking is as blunt and bullying as the mayhem it portrays.

50
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
It employs depression as a substitute for personality, and believes that if the characters are bitter and morose enough, we won't notice how dull they are.

50
Baltimore Sun
Ann Hornaday
Well, it's better than "The Phantom Menace."
50
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
It's a loud, obnoxious, and pleasant-enough entertainment, but hardly the soaring tale of one man's struggle that it was so clearly envisioned to be.

50
Dallas Observer
Gregory Weinkauf
The soul of Gladiator is made sluggish by a maddening lack of suspense.

40
Salon.com
Andrew O'Hehir
For all its grandeur, Gladiator is a canned experience, a film that flails around awkwardly trying to find a reason to exist, or at least a compelling story to tell.

40
Slate
David Edelstein
Gladiator's combination of grim sanctimony and drenching, Dolby-ized dismemberings left me appalled.

30
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
Friends, Washingtonians, countrymen, I come not to praise Gladiator but to bury it.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 105 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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