Avis Metacritic

It's a stunning Roman triumph.

What matters for today's hero is the good fight, and Gladiator KOs us with a doozy.

An exhilarating, sweeping epic that begs to be seen on the largest possible screen.

Lacks emotional depth and sweep -- but the movie still delivers the type of rousing, large-scale adventure that marked the best films of its kind

The heroism and the tigers and the epic grandeur all leave behind the flavor of cynicism.

It epitomizes the kind of high-profile bloodshed we now expect to herald the hazy, lazy, blockbuster-fixated days of summer.

The script by producer David Franzoni, John Logan, and William Nicholson is serviceable but not exactly inspired.

Filled with brilliant filmmaking and features outstanding performances, but it's neither profound enough nor pop enough to be great -- it's mournful, serious, beautiful and, finally, pointless.

Like an aging athlete who knows how to husband strength and camouflage weaknesses, it makes the most of what it does well and hopes you won't notice its limitations.

It's a loud, obnoxious, and pleasant-enough entertainment, but hardly the soaring tale of one man's struggle that it was so clearly envisioned to be.