Gladiator

This has got just about everything from "Spartacus" (1960) to "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (1964) via a bit of "Quo Vadis" (1951) to it - and Ridley Scott has managed to create a magnificent spectacle of a film. Russell Crowe is the eponymous soldier "Maximus". Commander of the Armies of the Rhine for Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) and his designated successor - until, that is, the emperor's son "Commodus" (Joaquin Phoenix) and his sister "Lucilla" (an efficient Connie Nielsen) arrive and suddenly it's all change at the top. Betrayed and left for dead, our hero must now make other shifts if he is to survive in his new world - controlled by slave-owning "Proximo" (Oliver Reed) and deliver him of vengeance on his new Imperial nemesis. The film looks great, the cast - including some some strong supporting efforts from Sir Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel, Djimon Hounsou and Tomas Arana all contribute well to this grandeur of this historical saga. The high politics, betrayal and duplicity are matched with a sense of integrity and camaraderie as "Maximus" begins to galvanise his colleagues and his political allies into something more than a disparate band fighting just to survive each day. Reed and Harris both feature only sparingly, but both add a richness to the characterisations that are dominated by two on-form performances from Crowe and Phoenix that epitomise a struggle of good versus evil and ultimate power in an empire where corruption and brutality trade human life as if it were a watermelon. Add to this some superb visual effects and a rousing score from Hans Zimmer (and Lisa Gerrard) and we have a compelling watch on a big screen that shows there is still a glimmer of the Cecil B. De Mille spirit left in Hollywood.