Gladiator
May 4, 2000 in theaters
Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius is betrayed by the emperor's corrupt son, stripped of everything he loves, and sold into slavery as a gladiator -- all while his enemy consolidates power in Rome. Ridley Scott's 2000 epic single-handedly revived the sword-and-sandal genre and set a new standard for large-scale historical spectacle in the modern blockbuster era.
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THE VERDICT
Synthesized from published reviews
Gladiator is the rare epic where the spectacle and the emotion earn each other -- you feel the weight of the Colosseum because you feel the weight of what Maximus has lost. Russell Crowe delivers one of the defining performances of his career: controlled fury that never tips into parody. Joaquin Phoenix is equally unforgettable as a villain whose pettiness is more chilling than any monster. If you haven't revisited it since the original run, it holds up completely.
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