Gladiator (2000 film)

David Franzoni, who wrote the first draft, had dropped out of graduate school by 1972 and took his down time to ride across Eastern Europe on a motorcade.[8][9] During his trip, Franzoni was amazed that "everywhere I went in Europe, there were arenas. Even as I went east, going through Turkey, I began to think to myself this must have been a hell of a franchise." During a stop in Baghdad, Iraq, he stoped reading a book about the Irish Revolution for another one: Daniel P. Mannix's 1958 novel Those About to Die. These trips helped Franzoni inspire many ideas about a story set in the Roman Empire.

Twenty-five years later, Franzoni wrote the screenplay for Steven Spielberg's Amistad, which was the director's first film for DreamWorks Pictures, for which Speilberg was one of the three founders of the newly created independent studio. Though Amistad was a moderate commercial success, DreamWorks was impressed with Franzoni's screenplay and given him a three-picture deal as writer and co-producer. Remembering his 1972 trip, Franzoni pitched his Roman History idea to Spielberg, who immediately told him to write the script.[8]

In Franzoni's first draft, dated April 4, 1998, Franzoni chose to base his story on Commodus after reading the ancient Roman Historia Augusta. He later named his protagonist Narcissus, a wrestler who, according to the ancient sources Herodian and Cassius Dio, strangled Emperor Commodus to death.[10]

Pollice Verso (Thumbs Down) by Jean-Léon Gérôme, the 19th-century painting that inspired Ridley Scott to tackle the project.

Ridley Scott was approached by producers Walter F. Parkes and Douglas Wick. They showed him a copy of Jean-Léon Gérôme's 1872 painting entitled Pollice Verso (Thumbs Down).[11] Scott was enticed by filming the world of Ancient Rome. However, Scott felt Franzoni's dialogue was too "on the nose" (lacking subtlety) and hired John Logan to rewrite the script to his liking. Logan rewrote much of the first act and made the decision to kill off Maximus's family to increase the character's motivation.[12]

By the time the script was being revised and the production crew was being assembled, DreamWorks began circling several potential partners to help cover the film's budget and costs. Co-financing between studios became increasingly common during the late-1990s as production and marketing costs — and the potential for losses — have spiraled upward.[13] DreamWorks shown a propensity for split-rights deals, having shared financing and distribution for the 1998 films Saving Private Ryan and Deep Impact with Paramount Pictures. On November 12, 1998, Variety reported that Universal Pictures reached a deal with DreamWorks to help finance the film, as well as obtaining international distribution rights and splitting worldwide proceeds 50–50 with DreamWorks, who would distribute the film in North America.[13]

Russell Crowe (pictured here in 1997) was chosen to play Maximus after his breakout performance in L.A. Confidential (1997).

While writing the script, Franzoni expressed interest with Antonio Banderas as the lead role, but he declined. Mel Gibson, Tom Sizemore, and Tom Cruise were also considered for the film, but the producers and studio had Russell Crowe at the top of their list after his breakout performance in L.A. Confidential (1997).[14] Crowe was initially hesitant to take the role due to gaining forty pounds for The Insider (1999), but director Michael Mann convinced the actor to take the role.[15] He would eventually signed on to play the main character in September 1998.[16] Crowe would state that he was pitched by Parkes without the script finished. In his interview for Inside the Actors Studio: "They said, 'It's a 100-million-dollar film. You're being directed by Ridley Scott. You play a Roman General.' I've always been a big fan of Ridley's."[17]

For the role of Commodus, Jude Law auditioned for the role but Scott intended to cast Joaquin Phoenix as his choice for the role.[18] Jennifer Lopez reportedly lobbied for the role of Lucilla, but lost the role to Connie Nielson.[18] Crowe initially suggested his Insider costar Christopher Plummer for the role of Marcus Aurelius before Richard Harris was cast in the role. From there, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed, Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel, and Tommy Flanagan joined the cast as pre-production was ready to commence.

In preparation for filming, Scott spent several months developing storyboards to develop the framework of the plot.[19] Over six weeks, production members scouted various locations within the extent of the Roman Empire before its collapse, including Italy, France, North Africa, and England.[20] All of the film's props, sets, and costumes were manufactured by crew members due to high costs and unavailability of the items.[21]

Scott and Franzoni draw up on several influences for Gladiator, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, La Dolce Vita and The Conformist. The film's plot was influenced by two 1960s Hollywood films of the sword-and-sandal genre, The Fall of the Roman Empire and Spartacus,[22] and shares several plot points with The Fall of the Roman Empire, which tells the story of Livius, who, like Maximus in Gladiator, is Marcus Aurelius's intended successor. Livius is in love with Lucilla and seeks to marry her while Maximus, who is happily married, was formerly in love with her. Both films portray the death of Marcus Aurelius as an assassination. In The Fall of the Roman Empire a group of conspirators independent of Commodus, hoping to profit from Commodus's accession, arrange for Marcus Aurelius to be poisoned; in Gladiator Commodus himself murders his father by smothering him. In the course of The Fall of the Roman Empire Commodus unsuccessfully seeks to win Livius over to his vision of empire in contrast to that of his father, but continues to employ him notwithstanding; in Gladiator, when Commodus fails to secure Maximus's allegiance, he executes Maximus's wife and son and tries unsuccessfully to execute him. Livius in The Fall of the Roman Empire and Maximus in Gladiator kill Commodus in single combat, Livius to save Lucilla and Maximus to avenge the murder of his wife and son, and both do it for the greater good of Rome.

Scott cited Spartacus and Ben-Hur as influences on the film: "These movies were part of my cinema-going youth. But at the dawn of the new millennium, I thought this might be the ideal time to revisit what may have been the most important period of the last two thousand years – if not all recorded history – the apex and beginning of the decline of the greatest military and political power the world has ever known."[23]

Spartacus provides the film's gladiatorial motif, as well as the character of Senator Gracchus, a fictitious senator (bearing the name of a pair of revolutionary tribunes from the 2nd century BC) who in both films is an elder statesman of ancient Rome attempting to preserve the ancient rights of the Roman Senate in the face of an ambitious autocrat – Marcus Licinius Crassus in Spartacus and Commodus in Gladiator. Both actors who played Gracchus (in Spartacus and Gladiator) played Claudius in previous films: Charles Laughton of Spartacus played Claudius in the unfinished 1937 film I, Claudius and Derek Jacobi of Gladiator played Claudius in the 1976 BBC adaptation. Both films also share a specific set piece wherein a gladiator (Maximus here, Woody Strode's Draba in Spartacus) throws his weapon into a spectator box at the end of a match, as well as at least one line of dialogue: "Rome is the mob", said here by Gracchus and by Julius Caesar (John Gavin) in Spartacus.

The film was shot in three main locations between January and May 1999. The opening battle scenes in the forests of Germania were shot in three weeks in the Bourne Woods, near Farnham, Surrey, in England.[24] When Scott learned that the Forestry Commission planned to remove a section of the forest, he persuaded them to allow the battle scene to be shot there and burn it down.[25] Scott and cinematographer John Mathieson used multiple cameras filming at various frame rates and a 45-degree shutter, creating stop motion effects in the action sequences, similar to techniques used for the battle sequences of Saving Private Ryan (1998).[26] Subsequently, the scenes of slavery, desert travel, and gladiatorial training school were shot in Ouarzazate, Morocco, just south of the Atlas Mountains over a further three weeks.[27] To construct the arena where Maximus has his first fights, the crew used basic materials and local building techniques to manufacture the 30,000-seat mud brick arena.[28] Finally, the scenes of Ancient Rome were shot over a period of nineteen weeks in Fort Ricasoli, Malta.[29][30]

In Malta, a replica of about one-third of Rome's Colosseum was built, to a height of 52 feet (15.8 meters), mostly from plaster and plywood (the other two-thirds and remaining height were added digitally).[31] The replica took several months to build and cost an estimated $1 million.[32] The reverse side of the complex supplied a rich assortment of Ancient Roman street furniture, colonnades, gates, statuary, and marketplaces for other filming requirements. The complex was serviced by tented "costume villages" that had changing rooms, storage, armorers, and other facilities.[29] The rest of the Colosseum was created in computer-generated imagery using set-design blueprints and textures referenced from live action, and rendered in three layers to provide lighting flexibility for compositing in Flame and Inferno software.[33]

While Crowe and Harris became good friends during filming, the actor did not get along with Reed. In a 2010 interview with GQ, Crowe stated that he "never got on with Ollie. He has visited me in dreams and asked me to talk kindly of him. So I should... but we never had a pleasant conversation." Crowe was uncomfortable with Reed's excessive drinking during filming. Phoenix was initially anxious about filming and requested Scott he dropped out early, but to help calm a then 25-year-old Phoenix's nerves, Crowe and Harris decided to get him drunk. "It was actually Richard Harris' idea," Crowe later recalled, "because Joaquin was very nervous on the set and I went to Richard and said, 'Mate, what are we gonna do with this kid, he's asking me to abuse him before takes.'"[34]

Throughout filmmaking, the actors complained about the problems with the script. William Nicholson was brought to Shepperton Studios to make Maximus a more sensitive character. Nicholson reworked Maximus' friendship with Juba and developed the afterlife thread in the film, saying, "he did not want to see a film about a man who wanted to kill somebody."[12] The screenplay faced many rewrites and revisions, with several actors providing changes.[35] Crowe questioned every aspect of the evolving script and strode off the set when he did not get answers. According to Nicholson, Crowe reportedly told him that his "lines are garbage, but I'm the greatest actor in the world and I can make even garbage sound good."

According to a DreamWorks executive, Crowe "tried to rewrite the entire script on the spot. You know the big line in the trailer, 'In this life or the next, I will have my vengeance'? At first he absolutely refused to say it."[36] Crowe described the script situation: "I read the script and it was substantially underdone. Even the character didn't exist on the pages. And that set about a long process, that's probably the first time that I've been in a situation where the script wasn't a complete done deal. We actually started shooting with about 32 pages and went through them in the first couple of weeks."[17] Of the writing and filming process, Crowe added, "Possibly, a lot of the stuff that I have to deal with now in terms of my 'volatility' has to do with that experience. Here was a situation where we got to Morocco with a crew of 200 and a cast of a 100 or whatever, and I didn't have anything to learn. I actually didn't know what the scenes were gonna be. We had, I think, one American writer working on it, one English writer working on it, and of course a group of producers who were also adding their ideas, and then Ridley himself; and then, on the occasion where Ridley would say, 'Look, this is the structure for it– what are you gonna say in that?' So then I'd be doing my own stuff, as well. And this is how things like, 'Strength and honor,' came up. This is how things like, 'At my signal, unleash hell,' came up. The name Maximus Decimus Meridius, it just flowed well."[17]

Maximus' habit of rubbing soil before each fight references the attachment and affection to his former life as a farmer.[37] In a conversation with Marcus Aurelius, Maximus says the fecund soil of his farm is "black like my wife's hair".[37] Crowe wrote the speech himself, drawing on his feelings of homesickness for his own farm.[37]

Crowe reportedly sustained injuries during principal photography. Detailing the impact filming had on his body during his appearance on Inside the Actor's Studio, Crowe described that there were a "lot of blood, lot of blood, lot of grazes, you know, I mean, I've still got, a lot of little scar[s] here and one under here on this elbow, a discoloration of the skin that is directly to Gladiator".[38] During filming on the sequence where Maximus fights Tigris of Gaul in the arena with tigers, Crowe narrowly escaped from being clawed by a tiger.[39]

Several scenes included extensive use of computer-generated imagery shots for views of Rome.

British post-production company The Mill was responsible for much of the computer-generated imagery effects that were added after filming. The company was responsible for such tricks as compositing real tigers filmed on bluescreen into the fight sequences, and adding smoke trails and extending the flight paths of the opening scene's salvo of flaming arrows to get around regulations on how far they could be shot during filming. They also used 2,000 live actors to create a computer-generated crowd of 35,000 virtual actors that had to look believable and react to fight scenes.[40] The Mill accomplished this by shooting live actors at different angles giving various performances, and then mapping them onto cards, with motion-capture tools used to track their movements for three-dimensional compositing.[33] The Mill created over 90 visual effects shots, comprising approximately nine minutes of the film's running time.[41]

An unexpected post-production job was caused by the death of Oliver Reed of a heart attack during the filming in Malta before all his scenes had been shot. The Mill created a digital body double for the remaining scenes involving his character Proximo[33] by photographing a live-action body double in the shadows and by mapping a three-dimensional computer-generated imagery mask of Reed's face to the remaining scenes during production at an estimated cost of $3.2 million for two minutes of additional footage.[42][43] Visual effects supervisor John Nelson reflected on the decision to include the additional footage: "What we did was small compared to our other tasks on the film. What Oliver did was much greater. He gave an inspiring, moving performance. All we did was help him finish it."[42] The film is dedicated to Reed's memory.[44]

• Marcus Aurelius was not murdered by his son Commodus; he died at Vindobona (modern Vienna) in 180 AD from the Antonine Plague. The epidemic, believed to be either smallpox or measles, swept the Roman Empire during his reign.[48]
• There is no indication Marcus Aurelius wished to return the Empire to a republican form of government, as depicted in the film. Moreover, he shared the rule of the Empire with Commodus for three years before his own death. Commodus then ruled alone from that point until his death at the end of 192 AD.[49]
• The film depicts Marcus as defeating the barbarians in the Marcomannic Wars. In reality, the war was still ongoing when Aurelius died; Commodus secured peace by a treaty with the two Germanic tribes allied against Rome, the Marcomanni and the Quadi, immediately after his father's death.[50]
• The character of Maximus is fictional, although in some respects he resembles the following historical figures: Narcissus, Commodus's real-life murderer and the character's name in the first draft of the screenplay;[51] Spartacus, who led a significant slave revolt in 73–71 BC; Cincinnatus (519–430 BC), a farmer who was made dictator, saved Rome from invasion, then resigned his six-month appointment after 15 days;[52][53] and Marcus Nonius Macrinus, a trusted general, consul in 154 AD, and friend of Marcus Aurelius.[54][55][56]
• Although Commodus engaged in show combat in the Colosseum, he was not killed in the arena; he was strangled in his bath by the wrestler Narcissus. Commodus reigned for over twelve years, unlike the shorter period portrayed in the film.[57][58]
• In the film, Lucilla is portrayed as a lone widow of Lucius Verus with one son, also named Lucius Verus. While Lucilla was the widow of Verus and also had a son by that name, their son died young, long before the reign of Commodus, and Lucilla remarried Claudius Pompeianus soon after Verus' death.[59] She had been married to him for 11 years by the time her brother became Emperor and her only living son during this time was Aurelius Pompeianus. The film omits Lucilla's other two children with Verus, Lucilla Plautia and Aurelia Lucilla.[59]
• The character of Maximus had a similar career (and personality traits as documented by Herodian) to Claudius Pompeianus (a Syrian) who married Marcus Aurelius' daughter Lucilla following the death of Lucius Verus. It is believed Aurelius may have wanted Pompeianus to succeed him as caesar, in preference to Commodus, but was turned down. Pompeianus had no part in any of the many plots against Commodus. He was not depicted in the film.[46]
• Lucilla was implicated in a plot to assassinate her brother in 182 AD, along with her stepson by Pompeianus and several others. She was first exiled to the island of Capri by her brother, then executed on his orders later in the year.[60]
• In the film the character Antonius Proximo claims "the wise" Marcus Aurelius banned gladiatorial games in Rome forcing him to move to Mauretania. The real Aurelius did ban games, but only in Antioch as punishment for the city's support of the usurper Avidius Cassius. No games were ever banned in Rome. However, when the Emperor started conscripting gladiators into the legions, the resulting shortage in fighters allowed lanistae such as Proximo to make "windfall" profits through increased charges for their services.[61]
• In real life, the death of Commodus did not result in peace for Rome, nor a return to the Roman Republic. Rather, it ushered in a chaotic and bloody power struggle that culminated in the Year of the Five Emperors of AD 193. According to Herodian, the people of Rome were overjoyed at the news of Commodus dying, although they feared that the praetorians would not accept the new emperor Pertinax.[62]
• "Maximus Decimus Meridius" does not appear to be a usual personal name for ancient Rome. A more accurate name would be "Decimus Meridius Maximus", as "Decimus" is a praenomen and "Maximus" is a cognomen. "Proximo" should be rendered as "Proximus."

Costumes in the film are rarely historically correct. Some of the soldiers wear fantasy helmets. The bands wrapped around their lower arms were rarely worn. Their appearance is the product of a filmic stereotype whereby historical films depict peoples of antiquity wearing such bands. Although the film is set within the 2nd century AD, the Imperial Gallic armor and the helmets worn by the legionaries are from AD 75, a century earlier. This was superseded by new designs in AD 100. The legions' standard bearers (aquiliferi), centurions, mounted forces, and auxiliaries would have worn scale armour, lorica squamata.[63][64] The Germanic tribes are dressed in clothes from the Stone Age period.[65]

Roman field artillery used in open battle was far more compact and transportable than shown by the film. But it was indeed capable of creating "killing zones" with a low chance of survival, as proven by tightly spaced impacts on a real battlefield.

The Roman cavalry are shown using stirrups. This is anachronistic in that the horse-mounted forces of the Roman army used a two-horned saddle, without stirrups. Stirrups were only employed in filming for safety reasons because of the additional training and skill required to ride with a Roman saddle.[61][66] Catapults and ballistae would not have been used in a forest. They were reserved primarily for sieges and were rarely used in open battles. Fire arrows and canisters fired from catapults were not used at any point in ancient history.[61]

Roman Emperors of the Principate generally avoided appearing like royalty and tried to keep up the pretense that Rome was still a Republic and as a result, their preferred title was Princeps Civitatis, First Citizen. Diocletian in 284 was the first emperor to drop this pretense.

The Praetorian Guards seen in the film are all wearing purple uniforms. No historical evidence supports this. On campaign, they usually wore standard legionary equipment with some unique decorative elements.[67]

See also: 2000 in film

The logo for Gladiator.

1999, considered by film historians to be one of the greatest years in film history, saw the domestic box office soar to a record $7.3 billion, thanks largely to the box office pull of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, The Sixth Sense, Tarzan, Notting Hill, The Mummy, The Matrix, and Toy Story 2. 2000, however, was expected by industry executives to underperform compared to 1999.[73] Concerns were attributed to an lack of overall slate of pictures that lacked the commercial appeal to the previous year's group, notably the lack of a highly anticipated film such as The Phantom Menace, which contributed to the record box office in 1999.[73] In addition to a lack of a strong slate of pictures, there was also concerns over a lack of femme-driven pictures like Runaway Bride and Notting Hill, which were seen as strong alternatives to action-oriented blockbusters, as there was a lack of anticipated projects from top list actresses such as Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock, Drew Barrymore, Jodie Foster, Nicole Kidman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sharon Stone, and Julia Roberts.[74]

With a lack of femme-driven films and highly-anticipated films, studios concentrated their marketing on the appeal of major male stars such as Tom Cruise, Jim Carrey, Mel Gibson, Eddie Murphy, Nicolas Cage, Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis, Clint Eastwood, George Clooney, Robert De Niro, and John Travolta to help boost ticket sales for their slates and draw in potential female audiences.[75][76]Among the films scheduled for release during the summer of 2000 were the action films Gladiator, Mission: Impossible 2, Battlefield Earth, X-Men, The Perfect Storm, What Lies Beneath, and The Patriot, animated films Dinosaur, Chicken Run, Titan A.E., and Pokémon: The Movie 2000, and the comedies Big Momma's House, Scary Movie, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Road Trip, Me, Myself & Irene, Shanghai Noon, and Bring It On.[76] Mission: Impossible 2 was expetced to dominate the summer box office due to Cruise’s star power, while X-Men was seen as a potential hit within the comic book fanbase as Warner Bros.’ had several DC Comics properties from both the Batman film series and Superman film series stuck in development hell.[77][73]

Gladiator was projected to have a strong box office opening despite its R-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America and 155-minute running time and counter-programming from other films such as I Dreamed of Africa.[78] Several media outlets noted DreamWorks and Universal's decision to release Gladiator in the start of May was in an effort to deliver strong box office returns such as Twister (1996), Deep Impact (1998), and The Mummy (1999).[79]

Gladiator was released in North America on May 5, 2000, on 2,938 screens.[78] On its opening weekend, the film opened to number one when it earned $34.8 million, beating U-571.[80][81] The film not only crossed over Scream 3 to have the year's highest opening weekend, but also achieved the third-highest opening weekend for any R-rated film, trailing only behind Air Force One (1997) and Interview with the Vampire (1994).[82] It remained number one in its second weekend grossing $24.6 million, holding off Battlefield Earth's soft $11.5 million opening.[83] The film was dethroned from the top spot by Disney's Dinosaur during its third weekend and fell to third place with $19.7 million.[84] By Memorial Day, it had already earned a total of $127.2 million, surpassing Erin Brockovich to become the highest-grossing film of the year.[85] Gladiator did not regain its number one spot, but was in the top ten at the box office for nine weeks before it dropped to twelfth in its tenth week. Gladiator finished its initial run in theaters on the weekend of October 13. When the film was rereleased on February 16, 2001, the film finished eleventh with a gross of $58,948. Following its success at the 73rd Academy Awards, Gladiator grossed $456,732 on the weekend of April 1. It held the record for the largest post-Oscar Best Picture bump until Parasite (2019) surpassed the record with a $5.5 million draw following the Oscars. By the time the film had officially left theaters on May 10, 2001, Gladiator grossed $187.7 million in the United States and Canada. The film finished fourth in the domestic box office for the year 2000, finishing behind Mission: Impossible 2 ($215.4 million), Cast Away ($233.6 million), and How The Grinch Stole Christmas ($260 million).[86]

Outside of North America, Gladiator grossed over $47.8 million in the United Kingdom and saw the fifth largest opening in Australia with a record $5 million. The film went on the gross over $460.6 million worldwide against a budget of $103 million, finishing as the second highest-grossing film of 2000 behind Mission: Impossible 2 ($546.4 million).[87] At the time of its release, Gladiator was the fifth highest-grossing R-rated film, behind Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Matrix (1999), and Pretty Woman (1990).

The performances of Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix garnered praise from critics for bringing energy and charisma to the film.

Upon its initial release, Gladiator opened to generally positive reviews. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Gladiator has an approval rating of 78% based on 205 reviews, with an average rating of 7.30/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Ridley Scott and an excellent cast successfully convey the intensity of Roman gladiatorial combat as well as the political intrigue brewing beneath." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 67 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert (shown here from 2006) was one of the film's most notable detractors, criticizing its 'murky tone' and script.

The performances and the cast were praised by critics, with Crowe and Phoenix being considered by critics as the main highlights. Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter said Crowe "solidly anchors this epic-scale gladiator movie - the first in nearly four decades - by using his burly frame and expressive face to give dimension to what might otherwise have been comic book heroics."[88] In his positive review for The Wall Street Journal, Joe Morgensten said that Crowe "doesn't use tricks in this role to court our approval. He earns it the old-fashioned way, by daring to be quiet, if not silent, and intensely, implacably strong," and that the film "rests on Mr. Crowe's armor-clad shoulders, and he carries it remarkably well."[89] Empire's Ian Nathan, giving the film four stars, wrote that Phoenix displayed "gleeful hamminess" in his performance.[90] Writing for the film, Nathan expressed that "while it's all grand opera, and driven by sweeping gestures and pompous, overwritten dialogue, it is prone to plain silliness - especially in granting us the big showdown at the close. But the sheer dynamism of the action, coupled with Hans Zimmer's lavish score and the forcefield of Crowe, still makes this a fiercesome competitor in the summer movie stakes."[90] Geoff Andrew of Time Out praised the film, saying that "the cast is strong (notably Nielsen as Commodus's vacillating sister, and the late Oliver Reed, unusually endearing as a gladiator owner), the pacing lively, and the sets, swordplay and Scud catapults impressive.[91] On the other hand, Camille Paglia, who called the film "boring, badly shot and suffused with sentimental p.c. rubbish," criticized Crowe and Phoenix's performances[92]

Scott's directing was generally praised by critics, whom called it a return to form for the director. In her A- review for Entertainment Weekly, Lisa Schwarzbaum praised Scott's directing, particularly during the opening battle sequence. Schwarzbaum writes that with the battle sequence, "Scott lets loose his own extraordinary assault. It’s a bravura sequence of flaming arrows, falling horses, and mortal combat that doesn’t copy Private Ryan‘s famous opening tour de force of carnage so much as raise a banner in admiration. It's Scott the visual artist at his most deluxe." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote that "Scott really scores in his big Rome set-pieces, especially Crowe's combat with men and tigers in a computer-enhanced Colosseum much bigger and more monumental than the original," and that "for all of its implausible silliness and towering high camp, Scott's movie tells an engaging story, and the central arena fight-sequence in which Maximus and his gladiators playing the doomed Carthaginians end up defeating the Romans and reversing history "to the emperor's horror" is wittily and adroitly done: a sly demonstration of the confluence of politics and mass entertainment."[93] Michael Wilmington of The Chicago Tribune gave praise to Scott's direction, comparing the visual style of the film to that of Scott's 1982 film Blade Runner.[94]

Critics generally praised the production values of the film, with the costumes, production design, and visual effects. Todd McCarthy, praising the film for Variety, said Gladiator "revels in both the glory and the horror that were Rome," with "details in Arthur Max's brilliant production design and Janty Yates’ highly diversified costume design that offered up in wonderfully offhand fashion," while also commanding the "CGI effects that have allowed numerous sets, notably the Colosseum, to be enhanced in size and spectacle value; the stunts, fights and battles are as forceful and realistic as anyone could want, John Mathieson’s widescreen cinematography is magnificent, and the pacing across 2½ hours is well modulated." Roger Ebert, on the other hand, criticized the film for looking "muddy, fuzzy and indistinct." In his two-star review, Ebert also derided the writing, saying it "employs depression as a substitute for personality, and believes that if characters are bitter and morose enough, we won't notice how dull they are."[95]

Gladiator was nominated in 36 individual ceremonies, including the 73rd Academy Awards, the BAFTA Awards, and the Golden Globe Awards. Of 119 award nominations, the film won 48 prizes.[96]

The film won five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor for Russell Crowe, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, and Best Costume Design. It was nominated for an additional seven, including Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Best Director for Ridley Scott.[97] It was the first movie to win Best Picture without winning either a directing or screenwriting award since All the King's Men at the 22nd Academy Awards in 1950. This was also the second consecutive DreamWorks film to achieve an Oscar for Best Picture after American Beauty the previous year.[98] In 2003, Chicago became another Best Picture winner which did not win an Academy Award in either of these two major categories. Due to Academy rules, only Hans Zimmer was officially nominated for Best Original Score, and not Lisa Gerrard.[99] However, the pair did win the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score as co-composers.[100]

The box office in North America and Canada during the theatrical summer of 2000 underperformed, at there was a 4% decrease in grosses and 7% decrease in admissions from the corresponding frame in 1999's theatrical summer.[101] Industry executives blamed the underwheming drop on "the films studios offered this summer not exciting consumers the way that 1999's did, particulatly the lack of quality female-skewing movies that hurt admissions."[102] However, a strong fall and winter box office performance helped 2000 surpass 1999's $7.31 billion with a 2% increase of $7.41 billion.[103] Backed by the strong performances of Gladiator, Road Trip, Small Time Crooks, Chicken Run, and What Lies Beneath, DreamWorks finished fifth for the top performing domestic studios for 2000 with $769.5 million, ahead of major studios 20th Century Fox ($728.7 million) and Sony Pictures ($667.1 million). DreamWorks distribution chief Jim Tharp placed much of the performance on "the talented filmmakers behind the movies and the company's overall strategy."[104] In the years since Gladiator's success, DreamWorks would eventually be $400 million in debt by 2005 and the studio, along with the rights to Gladiator and the rest of the pre-2006 live action library, was sold to Paramount Pictures in 2006.[105]

After a string of box office disappointments following Thelma & Louise (1991), Gladiator was a reversal of fortune for Scott, earning him acclaim and interest. In the wake of Gladiator's success, producer Dino De Laurentiis hired Scott to direct Hannibal (2001), the highly anticipated sequel to The Silence of the Lambs (1991).[106] Gladiator, along with The Insider, helped turn Russell Crowe into an established A-lister. His performance in Gladiator resulted him in being cast by Ron Howard for A Beautiful Mind (2001).[107] Scott and Crowe collaborted again for A Good Year (2006), American Gangster (2007), Body of Lies (2008), and Robin Hood (2010). Gladiator brought fame for Phoenix, who would go on to be cast by M. Night Shyamalan for the films Signs (2002) and The Village (2004) and win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as the Joker in Joker (2019). Harris' performance in Gladiator resulted in his casting as Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001).[108]

Gladiator was first released on DVD and VHS on November 21, 2000. Along with X-Men, both films generated $60 million in home video sales each in their first week.[109] By this point, Gladiator had already sold 1.8 million DVD units, making it the fastest-selling DVD release.[110] By January 2001, it would go on to break The Matrix's record for becoming the top-selling DVD release, selling 3.5 million copies.[111] With over 5 million copies sold, the film would hold the record for being the best-selling DVD title of all time until Shrek surpassed it later that year.[112]

The DVD has since been released in several different extended and special edition versions. Special features for the Blu-ray Disc and DVDs include deleted scenes, trailers, documentaries, commentaries, storyboards, image galleries, Easter eggs, and cast auditions. The film was released on Blu-ray in September 2009, in a 2-disc edition containing both the theatrical and extended cuts of the film, as part of Paramount's "Sapphire Series" (Paramount acquired the rights to the film when it bought the DreamWorks library in 2006).[113] Initial reviews of the Blu-ray Disc release criticized poor image quality, leading many to call for it to be remastered, as Sony did with The Fifth Element in 2007.[114] A remastered version was later released in 2010.

The DVD editions that have been released since the original two-disc version, include a film-only single-disc edition as well as a three-disc "extended edition" DVD which was released in August 2005. The extended edition DVD features approximately fifteen minutes of additional scenes, most of which appear in the previous release as deleted scenes. The original cut, which Scott still calls his director's cut, is also selectable via seamless branching (which is not included on the UK edition). The DVD is also notable for having a new commentary track featuring director Scott and star Crowe. The film is on the first disc, the second one has a three-hour documentary into the making of the film by DVD producer Charles de Lauzirika, and the third disc contains supplements. Discs one and two of the three-disc extended edition were also repackaged and sold as a two-disc "special edition" in the EU in 2005. The film was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray by Paramount Home Media Distribution on May 15, 2018.[115]

A common theme found in Gladiator is that on revenge. Throughout the film, Maximus' character arc is revolved around the theme of revenge towards Commodus for betraying him, arranging the deaths of his wife and son, and the death of his emperor. Writing in the chapter "Gladiator and Contemporary American Society" of her book Big Screen Rome, Monica S. Cyrino argues that Maximus' revenge arc is driven by the alienation of Roman politics.[116] Cyrino analyzes that Maximus is introduced with having patriotism and being one who "fights for an ideal Rome because, never having been to the city. he has remained undefiled by the reality that Rome is rightful conqueror and civilizing force over the world."^[[116] Maximus is soon betrayed by Commodus and "when finds his wife and son mur­dered, it marked the moment of his alienation from everything he once valued."[116] Cyrino who noted that "Maximus' alienation from a degenerate Rome and his deep-seated ambivalence about his role in restoring Roman government to the people suggests a parallel to post-Cold War America."[116] Cyrino also notes that even as there was a "temporary boost in the rhetoric of national unity and superficial displays of patri­otism after September 11, 2001, current political and social commenta­tors remark on the apathy of the American electorate, such as low voter turnout and a persistent lack of interest in political debate."[116] When Maximus returns to Rome as a slave, "he eventually realizes what he has already begun to understand: "The mob is Rome.""[116] Driven by his anger and isolation, Mamimus;' resolution is to re-enact his ideal of Rome from within the arena. After he kills Commodus before he succumbs to his wounds, Maximus asks Quintus to reinstate Senator Gracchus in the hope that Gracchus helps reinstate Marcus Aurelius' ideals.

Gladiator commentates on theme of violence in sports and as a spectacle for entertainment. Cyrino writes that "Gladiator evokes the influence of the superstar athlete in a child's wide-eyed worship of celebrity when young Lucius approaches Maximus, his new idol. as he waits in his cell to enter the arena."^[[116] Franzoni himself was inspired by various sporting agents and professional sports such as the NFL and WWE when writing the script.[117] Cyrino blieves that the film's "gladiatorial fights are reminiscent of the way in which con­temporary sports competitions, especially professional football and wrestling, are filmed for television," and that Logan employed a similar tactic for the screenplay for Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday (1999), where "the camera watches from a series of vantage points that are easily recognizable to any viewers of Monday Night Football."[116] Cyrino argues that the film deconstructs from the spectacle of violence through the lens of Maximus. After a victory in Zucchabar, Maximus throws his sword at the local viewing box and spits at the sand after displaying his contempt for the crowd. Cyrino argues that "the depiction of the Roman mob in Gladiator offers the American audience an unnerving mirror-image of themselves, eager to be entertained at all costs and demanding ever more intricate, dangerous, and realistic spectacles."[116]

Gladiator commentates on the themes of masculinity and stoicism through the film's plot. During the course of the film, Maximus is represented as a strong, fearless figure who is brave, loyal, and honest to those around him. Cyrino writes that Maximus' masculinity is defined through his upbringing as a farmer and a working-class hero.[116] A signature trait from Maximus before he fights is that he gets dirt from the ground and wipe his hands dirty with them, signaling his personality as a man who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. Cyrino states that Maximus' portrayal as "a simple man of the soil responds to modern society's idealization of the countryside and its supposed virtue and purity, in stark contrast to the crime-ridden metropolis."[116] Maximus gains the support of his fellow gladiators and some of the senate over the course of the film through the way he behaves and acts. Some philosophers have noted the role stoicism plays in the Maximus' masculinity. The real life Marcus Aurelius writes in Meditations that stoics must "concentrate on [their responsibilities] ... without getting stirred up or meeting anger with angers." Maximus' drive for vengeance has made him turn away from his responsibilities of a role model to his son until Lucilla confronts him in his cell that he realizes that his emotions are getting the better of him. When Commodus taunts Maximus about how his son "squealed like a girl when they nailed him to the cross," stoicism shines a light on Maximus by refusing to give into his anger and kill Commodus in front of the arena and resorts to telling Commodus that his "time for honoring himself will soon be at a end." Krysta Larson, writing in "Mother Knows Best? Evaluating the Roles of Stoic Parents in Gladiator," believed that "it were stoically proper to continue in one’s role as a parent to a dead son, then Maximus would fulfill his role as a good Stoic father by pursuing virtuous goals and properly performing the deeds dictated by his roles rather than seeking revenge."[118]

Commodus, on the other hand, is presented as the antithesis of Maximus. The film portrays Commodus as an immature, cowardly, and unreasonable man who is not fit for the demands of governing the Roman Empire. He openly complains, sobs, has trouble sleeping at night, and has no respect from neither of the characters in the film. The film characterizes Commodus with his sister as his only friend, with his father openly admitting that his son is not a moral son. Driven by the lack of love obtained from his father, Commodus is "keen to acquire the love and respect of the Roman people that his father had enjoyed but criticizes Marcus Aurelius for his intellectualism."[116] Cyrino compared Commodus to the presidency of George W. Bush, stating that like Commodus, "Bush employed rhetoric imbued with overly emotional and sometimes childish tones."[116] Both Commodus and Bush, according to Cyrino, are "con­temptuous of guidance from advisory councils and express their scorn by means of anti-intellectual bluster."[116] Commodus amoral persoanlity intensfies when he begins to lust after his own sister Lucilia and forces her to become his sex slave as punishment for her betrayal. Gladiator highlights the distinct personalities of Maximus and Commodus in the final battle, where Maximus' honor, determination, and discipline overcomes Commodus' vanity, cruelty, and ambition.

The film's depiction of Commodus's entry into Rome borrows imagery from Leni Riefenstahl's Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will (1935), although Scott has pointed out that the iconography of Nazi rallies was itself inspired by the Roman Empire. Gladiator reflects back on the film by duplicating similar events that occurred in Adolf Hitler's procession. The Nazi film opens with an aerial view of Hitler arriving in a plane, while Scott shows an aerial view of Rome, quickly followed by a shot of the large crowd of people watching Commodus pass them in a procession with his chariot.[119] The first thing to appear in Triumph of the Will is a Nazi eagle, which is alluded to when a statue of an eagle sits atop one of the arches (and then is shortly followed by several more decorative eagles throughout the rest of the scene), leading up to the procession of Commodus. At one point in the Nazi film, a little girl gives flowers to Hitler, while Commodus is met by several girls who all give him bundles of flowers.[120]