Written by David Franzoni, John Logan, William Nicholson and Directed by Ridley Scott
Starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Richard
Harris, Djimon Hounsou, Ralf Moeller, Spencer Treat Clark, Tommy Flanagan
Ridley Scott Movie GLADIATOR : A ruthless prince Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) kills his father to
become the new emperor of Rome! He then orders the execution of Maximus (Russell Crowe), and
Maximus's wife and son! Maximus escapes execution, only to become a slave that battles in the arena
as a GLADIATOR! He lives for one thing and one thing only, the day that his revenge comes to fruition!
Hellacious Movies Movie Review : GLADIATOR had all the majesty of old Hollywood!
The Spectacle that it was literally put the fans in the front row seats at the Roman Colosseum! While
Russell Crowe gave an exceptionally brilliant performance, it was Joaquin Phoenix that stole the show!
His larger than life role as the egomaniacal Commodus was absolutely stunning! I couldn't take my eye's
off of him! The whole cast for that matter made significant contributions to this epic film! Sadly, it was
the great Oliver Reed's last movie! The film was dedicated to Mr. Reed, whom died before the film was
completed! They had to jump through a ton of hoops and spend millions of dollars to use technology to
complete the movie without Oliver Reed! I do believe Oliver would have been proud of the final cut!
It was 155 minutes of pure movie magic! Non stop action, a riveting story! Everything was done on a Grand
Scale! GLADIATOR was more than deserving of the OSCAR for Best Picture! Russell Crowe earned his
OSCAR for Best Actor in a leading role! However I was extremely ticked off when I heard Joaquin Phoenix
did not win an OSCAR for Best Actor in a Supporting Role! Joaquin not only stole the show! He WAS the show!
