# Is Gladiator the greatest film ever made?



## Ajid (Nov 21, 2016)

I have tonight watched Gladiator again. And thiugh it is not my favourite film I have to wonder, as an all out epic film is this not the best we can achieve? And if it is I would feel damn proud.

In terms of direction, acting skill etc it's average. But all together, i do actually feel it has a quality that makes it exceptional and the best film of all time seems to fit it.


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## Steve S (Nov 22, 2016)

I'm not sure I'd say it's the greatest film ever made, but I definitely think it's a great movie. I think it falls a way a little at the end (not sure if it's true but apparently budget constraints meant that a dramatic battle at the end - basically Maximus's old legion returns to fight for him - had to be cut) but there are many wonderful moments and characters.


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## J Riff (Nov 22, 2016)

Better watch it then, hadn't we? )


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## Alexa (Nov 22, 2016)

A great movie indeed, but I cannot say the best one. I personally prefer *The Last Samurai* made 3 years later.


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## JunkMonkey (Nov 23, 2016)

No. I've never seen it but it is a well know fact that _Plan 9 From Outer Space_ is the Greatest Film Ever Made.


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## Brian G Turner (Nov 23, 2016)

The big German leader at the beginning, who is finally taken down by 3 Roman solderies? That's Charlie, and he runs stage combat training from Kindcardine and Edinburgh - his group are in pretty much involved in every major film or TV production where ancient/mediaeval combat is depicted. He also runs an educational charity that built a fort near Stirling, and Russell Crowe sent him a battering ram from _Robin Hood_. I did some training with Charlie, and he still owes me a quarter-staff.


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## anno (Nov 23, 2016)

No.


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## Nate Hoffelder (Nov 24, 2016)

No.

It's a fairly generic action movie with a forgettable lead.


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## Ajid (Nov 24, 2016)

I think that's what makes it great. I only wonder for it but I don't think it's the perfect movie: i don't think the direvtion is exceptional. The story line is adequate, but somehow. It's not my type of film, it's not your type of film. But there is a touch of perfection to it is there not. It's not trying to be a shakespear tragedy. It's not even rubbing irony in your face. It's just a very simple story well told. And I for one envy it.


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## Ajid (Nov 24, 2016)

You know i spend my entire life looking for like minded people. I believe so profoundly that there is common ground between me and every man woman and child on this pale blue dut floating through existance. 

But I love writing. I really love it.

I can explore every thought. Take each thought to its destiny and project it further. 

It is my duty ti do so.

It is so fantastic that there are enough of us out there to do that to form an organisation like this. 

Founded just to sell a book.

Just to promote the chronicles of empire.

I hope and oray to the neutrinos of my faith and the gods if all yours we keep this going.

It is so very important to writers and readers.

It is hallowed ground, sacred to us.

It is our peace.


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## Ajid (Nov 24, 2016)

Sorry this was supposed to be about an average film.


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## coffleprong (Nov 29, 2016)

it was a good film but not the greatest


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## Toby Frost (Nov 29, 2016)

It's pretty good if you ask me and has some very good fight scenes. It's no _Alien_, but then again, what is?


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## Ajid (Nov 29, 2016)

I'' not sure you know.

There are films I enjoy more. There are truly better films in most ways. But as a complete motion picture, in terms of its direction, it's cinematography and I hate to say it the acting aswell it is the all rounder of all films at least.


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## J Riff (Nov 29, 2016)

, Personally I prefer the battle scenes in _Minuscule; Valley of the Lost Ants._


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## Ajid (Nov 29, 2016)

There's no need ton ANTagonise me.


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## J Riff (Dec 1, 2016)

I should watch it then, I guess. )


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## WaylanderToo (Dec 16, 2016)

I'd say that it's likely the great swords and sandals film like evah & Crow's career zenith but greatest? 

I'd say "The Right Stuff" would beat it - watch it & I'm sure you'll agree


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## paranoid marvin (Dec 18, 2016)

WaylanderToo said:


> I'd say that it's likely the great swords and sandals film like evah & Crow's career zenith but greatest?
> 
> I'd say "The Right Stuff" would beat it - watch it & I'm sure you'll agree




It's nowhere near as good as Kirk Douglas' Spartacus which its quite similar to.


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## Vaz (Dec 18, 2016)

Nope. It's not bad, not the greatest though.


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## Dan Jones (Jan 9, 2017)

I still can't believe that _Traffic _beat  _Gladiator_ to the Best Director Oscar, even after all these years.


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## MWagner (Jan 9, 2017)

It's a thoroughly enjoyable action film with some good acting and a great score. But as a history buff, I've always had some problems with Gladiator:

* It started the risible trend of using exploding catapult ammunition to make ancient battles more 'boom-boom' spectacular.

* Even with its huge budget it failed to capture the scale and tactics that were employed by Roman armies. Spartacus did it far better 40 years earlier.

* The geography is baffling. Maximus escapes his would-be-executioners in the forests of Germania and then walks to Spain? And then is captured by what look like Arabs using camels? And then ends up back in Rome without having crossed the sea? Wtf?

* The gladiators all look like WWF steroid-monkey body-builders. Real gladiators were slim and agile - carrying around an extra 50 lbs of muscle mass would be a severe disadvantage in that kind of combat, where speed and endurance were essential.

* It pulls the trick of making lethal gladiatorial combat the core of the movie's entertainment, and then making a moralistic commentary about how sadistic it is to be entertained by lethal gladiatorial combat. (The Hunger Games did the same thing).


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## The Ace (Jan 9, 2017)

I wanted my money back - then some unsporting twonk pointed out that we got in for free (long story).

Reasonable story, but the liberties they took with history meant I still felt over-charged.


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