THE MOVIE

Every so often a film will come along that will attract massive crowds at the boxoffice and run into almost legenedary status. Gladiator is such a film and unlike a number of the other so called 'blockbusters' that it has followed, it actually deserves to be succesful even if it isn't perfect. Russell Crowe certainly isn't a tid bit unhappy with being associated with this movie as the Aussie actor was launched into instant fame and is sure to have his pay packet quadrupled for his next project.

Russell Crowe stars as Maximus, a fearless army general who leads his men to victory in the excellent opening sequence of the film. He is well respected by thousands yet his only wish is to go home to his family. Maximu's skills as a warrior and his fearlesness make him a hero in Emperor Marcus Arrelius' (Richard Harris) eyes who bestows upon him leadership of the Roman Empire. With such great power come ruthless enemies and one such enemy is the emperor's son, Commodus, who takes it upon him to end his father's life before he makes his decision known and leaves Maximus for dead and has his wife and son slain. The devastated and vengeful soldier becomes a nobody and must fight against gladiators to survive. His fighting skills lead him all the way up to competing at the Colloseum infront of his arch enemy Commodus, now the emperor of Rome. Here Maximus hopes to face off with the man who murdered his family, his friend and the future of the nation by gaining the crowd's favor.

The General who became a slave.
The Slave who became a gladiator.
The Gladiator who defied an empire.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Columbia Tristar and Dreamworks have produced what can only be described as an absolutely breathtaking transfer. This is without doubt one of the finest video transfers that have ever graced the likes of DVD and to be honest it comes as no suprise. With such a stellar title to present nothing sort of 'perfect' would satisfy the crowds and the folks at Dreamworks SKG were well aware of that.

Presented in its original 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratio, the anamorphic widescreen transfer is an absolute delight. You could spend days scanning it frame by frame but you will not find the the slightest flaw. The transfer of the film to the DVD was done to perfection with every subtlety fully intact. There are no film artefacts at all which goes to show just how clean the original transfer was. The level of detail is breathtaking. Where the transfer shines even more is in its reproduction of colours. What may not be obvious to many of you is that director Ridley Scott deliberately used special color palettes to emphasize scenes and to create mood. This can be seen when comparing the scenes involving the Romans, all bathed in cold bluish tinge while the scenes with Gladiators have much warmer and earthly tones to match the colour of the earth they were fighting on. With such subtle colour differences in the film, reproducing the colour just like the director intended was a challenge and Dramworks achieved it with flying colours if you'll excuse the pun.

The several dark scenes in the film come out briliantly and the shadow detail is spot on. You won't be reaching for your TV remote to change any settings with this one.

Once you experience this transfer you will be cheering for the makers of the DVD like the Roman crowds in the Colloseum as it is a remarkable achievement to produce such a stellar transfer on a DVD that is chock full of data and hence space was really at a premium.

Audio:

I feel that I have perhaps used up all the superlatives to describe the video transfer and have thus run out of words to desribe the audio transfer. Let me just describe it in one word then - BRILIANT.

There are three soundtracks (English) included on this DVD, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, and the audio commentary in Dolby Digital 2.0. The first two, which are really the ones that matter the most, are breathtaking. I can see every DTS fan out there going out and buying this disc with the sole purpose of putting the age old battle of the audios Dolby digital 5.1 Vs DTS 5.1 to the test. They would also be happy to know that unlike other DVDs with the two soundtracks side by side on the same disc, this DVD actually allows an excellent comparison and the DTS soundtrack seems to come out on top with a more natural, cleaner and better positioned sound. That doesn't mean that the Dolby Digital track isn't very good though. On the contrary, the track is excellent and one of the best DD 5.1 tracks you will ever hear.

The audio of both soundtracks is extremely immersive and creates an excellent ambiance.One can only imagine at what it must have been like to sit in the colosseum in front of a crowd of tens of thousands of cheering Romans. This soundtrack goes a long way in reproducing that feeling. Another example of excellent sound reproduction and effects placement is the opening battlefield which has some of the best directional effects you will ever hear. The dialogue is clear and easy to understand in both soundtracks.

A big hurray must go to a favourite composer of mine, Hans Zimmer. Ever since I first heard his music in the all time favourite of mine, The Rock, I have been a big fan. Hans has actually used a number of sequences from The Rock in Gladiator and while this pleased many it did lead to some criticism as well. Nonetheless the music score is excellent and perfectly suited to the film.

THE EXTRAS

With a film as successful as Gladiator a big Collector's Edition wasn't going to be a bonus on the DVD but a necessity. Sure enough Dreamworks and Columbia Tristar really went out of their way to create a Collosal release. With the first disc containing a very data consuming video transfer, a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, a DD 2.0 commentary and a space hungry DTS 5.1 soundtrack there was really no room left for anything else. The studio thus made the wise and very welcome decision of producing a 2 disc Collector's Edition set which is excellent bar one VERY ugly feature. Like a number of two disc set releases of late (Bridge on River Kwai and to a certain extent ID4 and The Abyss) the casing that Gladiator comes in is atrocious. It is a slightly enlarged Amaray transparent case that contains a flimsy if not el-cheapo looking plastic insert that houses the 2nd disc. For a product of such quality, housing it in such bad packaging is really a crime.

Menu- A very nice menu with superb animation and sound and 16x9 enhanced.

Featurette - Making Gladiator- A well produced documentary which although like many of the so called "Making of" documentaries uses footage from the film itself, goes beyond being shear promotional material and reveals a wealth of behind-the-scenes footage and information in locations such as England, Morocco, and Malta. There are also on-set interviews with cast and crew including an interview with the star Russell Crowe.

11 Deleted Scenes:From The Cutting Room Floor -These deleted scenes with optional director's commentary unfortunately never made it into the final theatrical cut which is a shame because unlike most deleted scenes these actually had substance. With a running time of 149min without them though you get the feeling that art must sometimes be sacrifised in order to fit into the 120min commercial enterprise. Sadly the deleted scenes are not anamorphic, although they are very good quality wise.

Featurette - Hans Zimmer: Composing Gladiator- Hans Zimmer discusses how he composed the music for "Gladiator." This 20-minute featurette is a fascinating and rare glimpse in how a composer the calibre of Hans Zimmer takes on a film project and creates a music score that captures the atmosphere of the story so well.

Featurette - Gladiator Games: The Roman Blood Sport -This feature runs for an incredible 50min and is a really fascinating look into the real gladiator games in ancient Rome. If you thought today's society is fascinated by violence on TV then wait until you see the lust the Romans had for violence.

My Gladiator Journal- Spencer Treat Clark who plays the young Lucius in the film provides us with a text supplement which he wrote while he was working on the set of Gladiator. He provides an interesting glimpse at the production of the film and those of you that like to read things on DVD will find this a worthy addition.

Trailers & TV Spots- There is a theatrical teaser trailer , the full theatrical trailer and four TV spots all in DD 2.0 sound.

Original Storyboards and Stills Gallery- While always welcome this are a tad boring when you consider the rest of the extras on this release.
Cast & Crew Biographies

SUMMARY

Gladiator is without doubt one the best films that have graced our screens for a while. It is a true epic which acquired millions of fans and made Russell Crowe a household name both here but pretty much in most places in the world, especially in the USA which seems to be head over heels for him.

The long awaited DVD is fantastic and worthy of the perfect score I awarded it with. I considered a penalty for the poor packaging but felt that the briliant video and audio transfer and the great selection of extras were good enough to make up for it.

Whether you have or have not seen this film should not matter. You should own this DVD in one way or another as it will be a trully great asset in your collection.