Gladiator: A Capsule Review Overall comments: Oh My God - must see again at *full price.* Pitch: Spartacus meets Mad Max meets Notting Hill!!! Synopsis: Roman Super Soldier, victor in battle, favored of the dying Emperor becomes a slave at the hands of evil royal heir. Slave becomes Gladiator, Gladiator becomes Defyer of the Throne. Mix unrequited love with decapitations and what do you have? Chick Flick with Attitude or Date Safe Boy Movie? I think it is more Boy Movie with some elements women can love - however most women will watch with eyes wide shut... Pro's: 3 hours of amazing scenery, incredible fights (including one legion scale battle that is the equal to the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan), great dialog that doesn't resort to Arnold-esque one liners. Cinematography that trumps Ridley Scotts' prior best work. Did I mention decapitations? How about amazing costumes and super cool gladiator weapons!!! Excellent opportunity to quote the pilot from the movie "Airplane." Con's: I can't live in Rome during that period. The movie was only 3 hours long - most DBM games last longer! Main theme won't get much radio play. "SPQR: Senatus Populus Que Romanus" Enemy at the Gate Out early in 2001 is 'Enemy at the Gate' starring Jude law as a famous Soviet sniper during the Stalingrad battle. Crux of the story is Hitler finds a top army major to win a propaganda war by killing the above. The sample action sequences look superb - already talk of this as being as big as Private Ryan - lots of possible oscar nominations etc. Also out very soon is Patriot , starring Mel Gibson. This is a film about the American Revolution and it looks like it has a lot of potential. Let's hope they've done their research regarding the uniforms and the equipment of the period. I'm sure some of our very own reenactors were there. I look forward to seeing this one. Back to The Gauntlet No. 20 Table of Contents Back to The Gauntlet List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by Craig Martelle Publications This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com