Guy Down The Street

“In a Nutshell”® rating: 9/10.

Now here is a movie, decent enough and doing pretty good. We reached the theater a trifle 4 minutes late and had to occupy the only remaining seats on the extreme corner of the first row.

With outstanding wide-angle photography and an excellent story-line, Gladiator provides a two and half-hour spell that takes one into the Roman empire of around 200 AD.

Russell Crowe, in the role of Roman general Maximus, outshines the remaining cast. Hounsou (from Amistad) provides a solid performance. ‘Comodus’ (Joaquin Phoenix, Parenthood, 1989) does an excellent job too.

Even though the movie is tightly wound to its central theme of the enmity between Maximus and Comodus, with the crowd rooting for Maximus, at times the story does look a wee bit cheesy.