In the year 180, the death of emperor Marcus Aurelius throws the Roman Empire into chaos. Maximus is one of the Roman army’s most capable and trusted generals and a key advisor to the emperor. As Marcus’ devious son Commodus ascends to the throne, Maximus is set to be executed. He escapes, but is captured by slave traders. Renamed Spaniard and forced to become a gladiator, Maximus must battle to the death with other men for the amusement of paying audiences.

Credits: TheMovieDb.

Film Cast:

• Maximus Decimus Meridius: Russell Crowe
• Commodus: Joaquin Phoenix
• Lucilla: Connie Nielsen
• Antonius Proximo: Oliver Reed
• Marcus Aurelius: Richard Harris
• Senator Gracchus: Derek Jacobi
• Juba: Djimon Hounsou
• Senator Falco: David Schofield
• Senator Gaius: John Shrapnel
• General Quintus: Tomas Arana
• Hagen: Ralf Moeller
• Cicero: Tommy Flanagan
• Lucius Verus: Spencer Treat Clark
• Cassius: David Hemmings
• Tigris of Gaul: Sven-Ole Thorsen
• Maximus’ Wife: Giannina Facio
• Praetorian Guard #1: Alun Raglan
• Maximus’ Son: Giorgio Cantarini
• Engineer: David Bailie
• Slave Trader: Omid Djalili
• Praetorian Officer: Nicholas McGaughey
• Assassin #1: Tony Curran
• Assassin #2: Mark Lewis
• Valerius: John Quinn
• Rome Trainer #1: Al Hunter Ashton
• Trainer 1: Allan Corduner
• Trainer 2: Michael Mellinger
• Proximo’s Man: Said Amel
• Officer 1: Adam Levy
• Officer 2: Gilly Gilchrist
• Giant Man: David Nicholls
• Centurion (uncredited): Malcolm Ellul
• Centurion (uncredited): Ray Mangion
• Roman Soldier (uncredited): João Costa Menezes
• Fighter (uncredited): Mike Mitchell
• Sedan Chair Carrier (uncredited): Norman Campbell Rees
• German Barbarian (uncredited): Steve Saunders
• Coliseum Gladiator (uncredited): Brian Smyj
• …: Chick Allen
• …: Billy Dowd

Film Crew:

• Original Music Composer: Hans Zimmer
• Executive Producer: Ridley Scott
• Producer: David Franzoni
• Unit Production Manager: Branko Lustig
• Producer: Douglas Wick
• Screenplay: John Logan
• Screenplay: William Nicholson
• Director of Photography: John Mathieson
• Set Decoration: Crispian Sallis
• Costume Design: Janty Yates
• Production Design: Arthur Max
• Vocals: Lisa Gerrard
• Casting: Louis DiGiaimo
• Editor: Pietro Scalia
• Visual Effects: Colin Coull
• Executive Producer: Walter F. Parkes
• Sound: Scott Martin Gershin
• Stunts: Eugene Collier
• Supervising Art Director: Benjamín Fernández
• Animatronic and Prosthetic Effects: Neil Corbould
• Art Direction: Peter Russell
• Executive Producer: Laurie MacDonald
• Post Production Supervisor: Lisa Dennis
• Art Direction: Keith Pain
• Makeup Artist: Paul Engelen
• Hairstylist: Carmel Jackson
• Assistant Art Director: Adam O’Neill
• First Assistant Director: Terry Needham
• Stunt Double: Stuart Clark
• Sound Effects Editor: Dino Dimuro
• Sound Effects Editor: Christopher Assells
• Supervising Sound Editor: Per Hallberg
• Casting Associate: Stephanie Corsalini
• Supervising Art Director: John King
• Second Unit Director: Alexander Witt
• Stunts: Neil Finnighan
• Stunts: Mike Ian Lambert
• Stunts: David Faivre
• Supervising Art Director: David Allday
• Stunts: Derek Lea
• Costume Supervisor: Rosemary Burrows
• Property Master: Graeme Purdy
• Stunts: Ray Nicholas
• Stunts: Petr Drozda
• Foley: James Moriana
• Foley: Jeffrey Wilhoit
• Camera Operator: Branko Knez
• Stunts: Vincent Keane
• Stunts: Chuck Jeffreys
• Stunts: Alejandro Cobo
• Stunts: Martin Hub
• Stunts: Tom Lucy
• Stunts: C.C. Smiff
• Stunts: Peter Hric
• Stunts: Trevor Lovell
• Second Assistant Director: Adam Somner
• Stunts: Alejandro García
• Stunts: Ricardo Cruz
• Stunts: Eddie Stacey
• Stunts: Peter Miles
• Stunts: Jane Omorogbe
• Stunts: Jennifer Stoute
• Visual Effects Producer: Nikki Penny
• Stunts: Graham Mullins
• Makeup Artist: Trefor Proud
• Hairstylist: Alex King
• Hairstylist: Marese Langan
• Wardrobe Master: William McPhail
• Makeup Artist: Ivana Primorac
• “B” Camera Operator: Klemens Becker
• Makeup Artist: Laura McIntosh
• Greensman: Roger Holden
• Foley: Dan O’Connell
• Sound Effects Editor: Jon Title
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Scott Millan
• Stunts: Charles Jarman
• Foley: John T. Cucci
• Property Master: Philip McDonald
• Stunt Coordinator: Phil Neilson
• First Assistant Editor: Chisako Yokoyama
• Script Supervisor: Annie Penn
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Bob Beemer
• Sound Effects Editor: Randy Kelley
• Camera Operator: Clive Jackson
• Compositors: Simon Stanley-Clamp
• Dialogue Editor: Lauren Stephens
• “A” Camera Operator: Peter Taylor
• Still Photographer: Jaap Buitendijk
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Frank A. Montaño
• Assistant Art Director: José Luis del Barco
• Foley Editor: Richard Dwan Jr.
• Visual Effects Supervisor: Tim Burke
• Unit Publicist: Rob Harris
• Supervising ADR Editor: Chris Jargo
• ADR Editor: Laura Graham
• ADR Editor: David A. Cohen
• Location Manager: Jeremy Johns
• Visual Effects Supervisor: Rob Harvey
• Location Manager: Terry Blyther
• Hairstylist: Ivana Němcová
• Stunts: Zdeněk Dvořáček
• CG Supervisor: Laurent Hugueniot
• Hairstylist: Graham Johnston
• Property Master: Bruce Bigg
• Color Timer: Dale E. Grahn
• Hairstylist: Anita Burger
• Stunts: Brian Smyj
• Stunts: Marek Toth
• Stunts: Tony Lucken
• Stunts: Pavel Vokoun
• Dialogue Editor: Simon Coke
• Makeup Artist: Melissa Lackersteen
• Makeup Artist: Jo Allen
• Scenic Artist: Cynthia Sadler
• Scenic Artist: Bob Walker
• Animatronic and Prosthetic Effects: Astrig Akseralian
• Visual Effects Editor: Wesley Sewell
• Visual Effects Supervisor: John Nelson
• Camera Operator: Ben Gooder
• Camera Operator: Felix Schroer
• Camera Technician: Agapios Louka
• Casting: Mustapha Charif
• Casting: Kathleen Mackie
• First Assistant Editor: Michael Reynolds
• Music Editor: Dashiell Rae
• Transportation Coordinator: Gerry Gore
• Location Manager: Mike Higgins
• Production Supervisor: Ty Warren
• Stunts: Miroslav Lhotka
• Stunts: Joss Gower
• Stunts: Ivo Krištof
• Stunts: Ben Bellman
• Stunts: Carlo Antonioni
• Key Grip: David Appleby
• Gaffer: Daniele Botteselle
• Special Effects: John Evans
• Title Designer: Robert Dawson
• Assistant Director: Ali Cherkaoui
• Stunts: Viktor Cervenka
• Foley Editor: Lou Kleinman
• Best Boy Grip: Adrian McCarthy
• Stunts: Georges Branche
• Production Coordinator: Sallie Beechinor
• Stunts: Stephanie Lelievre
• Stunts: Seoras Wallace
• Stunts: Mark Anthony Newman
• Production Sound Mixer: Ken Weston
• Key Grip: Rupert Lloyd-Parry
• Stunts: Eugenio Alonso Yenes
• Set Production Assistant: Mark Taylor
• Stunts: Morgan Johnson
• Utility Stunts: Gary Fry
• Stunt Double: Peter White
• Stunts: Vincent Bellina
• Stunts: Sebastiano Cartier
• Assistant Production Coordinator: Lesley Keane
• Boom Operator: Colin Codner
• Stunts: Guy List
• Stunts: Hernan Ortiz
• Stunts: Mirek Navratil
• Stunts: Chris Manger
• Stunts: Tubardh Wilson
• Stunts: David Weiss
• Stunts: Ian Walker
• Stunts: Martin ‘Mato’ Uhrovcik
• Stunts: R.J. Steel
• Stunts: Gordon Smith
• Stunts: José María Serrano
• Stunts: Ken Scotland
• Stunts: Jean-Phillipe Roman
• Stunts: Marc Roberts
• Stunts: Pauline Richards
• Stunts: Peter Olgyay
• Stunts: Mustapha Natouri
• Stunt Double: Randy Miller
• Stunts: Ivan Mica
• Stunts: Robbie MacFarlane
• Stunts: Radowan Kak
• Stunts: Kevin Johnson
• Stunts: Carlton Headley
• Stunts: Kamil Fojtik
• Stunts: Mohammed Enahal
• Stunts: Walter Difrancesco
• Stunts: Michel Didier
• Stunts: Forbes Cowan
• Stunts: Gianluca Coppetta
• Stunts: Alessandro Casalino
• Stunts: Sergio Casadei
• Stunts: Manuel Cabrera
• Stunt Double: Ryan Alber

Movie Reviews:

• Eky: Gladiator has been my most favorite film of all time. It is an epic masterpiece in many ways and it really explains why despite the numerous viewings, Gladiator still amuses me with its powerful imageries and many other crucial aspects so that it won five Academy Awards. This film is very well written, the well-ensemble casts, the A-class acting (especially Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix), the stunning cinematography and definitely a strong character of Maximus (magnificently portrayed by Russell Crowe) whose life, struggle, disappointment and anger really move the audience, as if the world attention centers on him. Gladiator is not a historical film, because it only used the history of the ancient Roman Empire merely as the time setting.
  All other aspects namely those gorgeous shots, the great storyline/plot, the fantastic cinematography, the vividly lavish colors, detailed production design and digital imaging (that successfully rebuilt the stunning beauty of the ancient Roman Empire) and all sell really well, making the 170 minute-long running time definitely worthwhile. The visual of great battle in the first 15 minutes really stole my heart. The gruesome pictures, the blood and violence just to beautiful to abandon. Everything in this movie seems perfectly balanced, Ridley Scott as the film director really did his homework well in redefining and revitalizing the big battle sequence once considered masterpiece from Spartacus and Ben Hur. In the end, once again, I would say that Gladiator perfectly combines some crucial elements such as good, moving story, dazzling visual, beautiful scenery, filming techniques, direction and touching music score into one harmonious, action-packed film about heroism and its true meaning.
• John Chard: They said you were a giant. They said you can crush a man’s skull with one hand.

  Ridley Scott’s Gladiator is not a perfect film, I would think that the hardiest of fans, of which I’m firmly one, know this deep down. Yet just like Commodus in the film is keen to point out that he himself has other virtues that are worthy, so does Gladiator the film. Enough in fact to make it an everlasting favourite of genre fans and worthy of the Academy Award acknowledgements it received.

  In narrative terms the plot and story arc is simplicity supreme, something Scott and Russell Crowe have never shied away from. There has to my knowledge as well, never been a denial of the debt Gladiator owes to Anthony Mann’s 1964 Epic, The Fall of the Roman Empire. Some folk seem very irritated by this, which is strange because the makers of Gladiator were not standing up bold as brass to proclaim they were unique with their movie, what they did do was reinvigorate a stagnant genre of film for a new generational audience. And it bloody worked, the influence and interest in all things Roman or historically swashbuckling of film that followed post Gladiator’s success is there for all to see.

  What we do in life echoes in eternity.

  So no originality in story, then. While some of the CGI is hardly “Grade A” stuff, and there’s a little over – mugging acting in support ranks as some of the cast struggle to grasp the period setting required, yet the way Gladiator can make the emotionally committed feel, actually overrides film making irks. Crowe’s Maximus is the man men want to be and the man women want to be with. As he runs through the gamut of life’s pains and emotionally fortified trials and tribulations, we are with him every step of the way, urging him towards his day of revenge splattered destiny – with Crowe superb in every pained frame, winning the Academy Award for Best Actor that he should have won for The Insider the previous year.

  Backing Crowe up is Joaquin Phoenix giving Commodus preening villainy and Connie Nielsen graceful as Lucilla (pitch Nielsen’s turn here against that of Diane Kruger’s in Troy to see the class difference for historical period playing). Oliver Reed, leaving the mortal coil but leaving behind a spicy two fold performance as Proximo the Gladiator task master. Olly superb in both body and CGI soul. Richard Harris tugging the heart strings, Derek Jacobi classy, David Hemmings also, while Djimon Hounso gives Juba – Maximus right hand man and confidante – a level of character gravitas that’s inspiring.

  I didn’t know man could build such things.

  Dialogue is literate and poetic, resplendent with iconic speeches. Action is never far away, but never at the expense of wrought human characterisations. The flaming arrows and blood letting of the Germania conflict kicks things off with pulse raising clarity, and Scott and his team never sag from this standard. The gladiator arena fights are edge of the seat inducing, the recreation for the Battle of Carthage a stunning piece of action sequence construction. And then the finale, the culmination of two men’s destinies, no soft soaping from Scott and Crowe, it lands in the heart with a resounding thunderclap. A great swords and sandals movie that tipped its helmet to past masters whilst simultaneously bringing the genre alive again. Bravo Maximus Decimus Meridius. 10/10

• Kowalczyk: Ridley Scott’s Gladiator is a real masterpiece of its genre. With its unique battle scenes, cinematography, acting and directing. It’s a real must-watch. Shame on you if you haven’t watched this movie!