On this episode we talk about the movie Gladiator starring thin Russell Crowe from 2000. Gladiator also stars Connie Nielsen and Joaquin Phoenix. 

Gladiator is set at the height of the Roman Empire and is a non-historical look at what would happen if Joaquin Phoenix was in charge of a brutal society of warriors. Naturally he would kill his father to become emperor and bring back the ultra-violent Gladiator games of the Roman Coliseum. Russell Crow plays Maximus the general who turns against Phoenix after he murders the emperor and becomes a Gladiator trying to win his freedom and chance to meet Phoenix in person to kill him. 

This movie changed "sandals and sand" movies forever. The battle scenes and graphic violence moved gladiator movies from the dramatization and boring battles to high-octane elaborate action packed scenes. The dialogue and acting still leave a few things to be desired but Gladiator still holds up and hits all the right notes for a very entertaining movie.