Props to Ridley Scott for bringing life back to the then-dead sword and sandals genre, but has anyone ever taken a good, hard look at Gladiator and thought for even a second that it might be a little... well, overrated? Going by the fact that it's been included in the top 50 movies on the IMDb, the public are eating this one up. But consider that Gladiator probably isn't as good a movie as you remember, or that nostalgia has eaten away your judgement. Nope? Okay, then. Ridley Scott's third most famous movie - after Alien and Blade Runner, of course - is beautifully shot and contains a bunch of awesome performances, but the script is overwritten and bland, the history jagged and messy. People talk about Gladiator as though it's a "classic," instead of a the popcorn movie that it fundamentally is (but doesn't want to be). Blade Runner is currently ranked at 134, by the way. Pathetic.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
