Customer Reviews

Gladiator

5 star:		(1,011)
4 star:		(232)
3 star:		(115)
2 star:		(109)
1 star:		(164)

 

 

Pay very careful attention when trying to determine which disc you actually received from Amazon. There's conflicting information on the internet as far as the telltale signs of the remastered disc versus the original crappy transfer. For example, most people tell you the packaging for the new version has a yellow UPC....not always true. Other people tell you the copyright on the back bottom right of the box says 2010 DW Studios LLC instead of the original which says 2009, also not always true.
It seems the only definitive way to tell if you have the new version is to look at the innermost rings on the underside of Disc One itself. Hold it up to the light, and at the end of a string of letters and numbers, you should see "B1R2". If you have anything else (i.e. B1R1), you have the original version and NOT the remastered one!
If so, exchange it promptly.

This review refers to the blu-ray picture quality only. The movie itself is an absolute classic. Unfortunately this blu-ray was a victim of considerable DNR and EE that has actually removed and distorted picture detail. Here's a good example. At the beginning of the movie where we see Maximus as a General leading a final battle, you see an amazing wide shot of flying, flaming, arrows. It should look amazing, right? Wrong. The picture was DNR'd so badly that it actually removed arrows and the ones you can see are a blurred mess! Absolutely terrible. Don't waste your money on this. Wait until they release a quality blu-ray because "this is not it!"

The version about to be released on 2009-09-01 is defective. Picture quality is from the 2000 DVD master. I would advise waiting until an updated release is made available, don't let them make you pay twice!!

I do have the remastered version and it looks and sounds great! At first I wasn't sure. After doing some research I have confirmed that I HAVE THE REMASTERED VERSION.

BD has yellow UPC bar code not white.

2-DISC SET does not appear above the Paramount logo on the slip case (outside cardboard of BD packaging). However, and this is what threw me off; 2 DISC SET does appear above Paramount logo on the inner sleeve of keep case.

Remastered version no longer has a white, titled security sticker on the top of the case.

As for the inner ring number issue there are multiple numbers identifying the disc as the remastered version.
NA13081B1R2 - remastered version

BVDL-103860B1 (on my BD) is ALSO the correct number for REMASTERED copies of Gladiator.

The final confirmation that I had the remastered version; all the arrows appear in the opening battle sequence.

Universal/Paramount really botched this transfer the extended scenes look fine but the theatrical footage uses the same transfer as the DVD I'd wait for another edition.

Gladiatorial combat is immortalized in this film, the only way it can be: through stunning action sequences and beautiful imagery. It also immortalizes, above all, director Ridley Scott.

Roger Ebert complains of people with short memory spans praising this film while forgetting that films like Spartacus have supposedly done this before. Well, I have a good memory, and I remember Spartacus. In fact, I kept on remembering that film while watching Gladiator, only in the context of, "This is so much better than Spartacus. It goes beyond." The action is better, the visuals are better, the story is better, and the acting is better. Sorry, Kirk.

Since this is an action film, the story isn't the most important element, but for an action film it is actually quite good. For one thing, I liked the disturbing under-the-surface incest element going on between Commodus and Connie Nielson. Furthermore, it was interesting to see how Crowe gained support among the gladiators until it became as if he were a general leading his army again. The plot itself needed to be there in order to fully create a sense of grandeur. With its insurrection story, the rise of the hero and his trek to the capitol of Rome, and the look at the people in power, the plot creates a sense of time-and-place necessary for an epic that couldn't exist with the visuals and action alone.

The acting is among the best one can ever seen for an action film, and there is plenty of fine dramatic work pulled off by the two main actors. Russell Crowe is now one of the best "new" (four or five films so far) actors in film. We believe, in his glances and the ways he delivers his many great lines, that he is Maximus. He is poignant, hate-filled, and sorrowful all at once. The praise he is getting is deserved. But why isn't Phoenix being lauded just as much? He carries the film in the second-largest role just as well as Crowe. His Emperor Commodus isn't a good villain and has no real character, but Phoenix adds so many layers to him and turns him into a great antagonist that that alone makes his performance excellent. He commands attention just as Crowe does. All by himself (no help from any great dialogue or development), he creates a villain that is prissy, whining, ambitious, pathetic, and malevolent, and worthy of our hate as well as our pity. It's a wonderful transformation. To sum it up, the characters themselves aren't really developed at all- but the acting is so good that it seems they are.

Now, onto the action, which, as I had hoped, is plentiful and intense. It has diversity and grandeur. All the fights were fast, hard-hitting, uncensored, and very bloody, which is what they should've been like. And every single fight sequence is unique from the others. There's the match where two men fought chained to each other, the opening war battle, Maximus vs. numerous other fighters, and the final sword duel, to name a few. This is so much more than just two half-naked men fighting with swords, which is what it could've been. The film also captures the feel and the motion of combat. Ridley Scott speeds up the film slightly during fight scenes to show the chaos and rapid reflexes necessary to survive. During the fight scenes, the camerawork is nonstop and covers the combat as one big blur to the fighters. (But we can still follow the fights themselves.)

This film also stands out in my mind as one of the most visual, image-driven action films I've ever seen. Thanks to Ridley Scott, practically every scene is jammed with wonderful detail, art direction, even distinct lighting (the Collosseum orange, other parts of Rome dark blue). Just look at the wide multitude (seemingly infinite number) of battle masks, weapons, and locales. Cinematography is skillful and impressive. There are tons of memorable shots, like Maximus entering the ring with rose petals coming down on him like rain from above, Commodus' pure white battle costume (when he's being risen up on the platform he looks like a demented angel ascending to heaven), and the images used to represent Crowe's home- the gentle hand carressing the wheat reeds, the door to his house, etc. They had a surreal quality and each were bathed in their own distinct color. Excellent work, Ridley.

A very impressive film. So why can't all summer movies be this good? We'd be spoiled.

What a disappointment for such a heralded and popular film.

This disc is a retread of the 2000 transfer, made for the DVD. What this means is that considerable edge enhancement (EE), or false sharpness, remains in place. Universal, in prepping the old, outdated transfer for release, smeared what is called "digital noise reduction," or DNR, all over the picture, to remove both the natural film grain that provides facial detail and other wonderful Blu-ray things, as well as cover up the nasty results of EE, which include white halos around most edges.

The result? A terrible picture:

1. The detail that justifies a Blu-ray upgrade, namely clear backgrounds and great facial detail, is GONE. It does NOT look like film, and barely upgrades the detail on the DVD. Yes, it's slightly better, but only because of the increased resolution. It's a barely noticeable upgrade.

2. Some elements are actually missing! Like arrows and catapult ammunition. Gone. Erased. Some spears have been magically segmented due to the errors.

In short, DO NOT BUY THIS BLU-RAY. It is a mere marginal upgrade from the DVD, and you should send a message to Paramount with your wallet. This is not worthy of the Sapphire label, and is not worthy of your purchase.

The picture is extremely shoddy in this Blu-Ray release! Avoid like the plague, so the studio gets the idea! What the heck is the studio doing releasing this atrocious transfer on BD when the movie itself is such a great one? Unbelievable! A movie like this should have a flawless transfer! Argh!

Gladiator was one of the most anticipated titles on Blu-ray, but this release comes from an old master (used for the DVD in 2000) and suffers from too much DNR (digital noise reduction, which smudges detail) and edge enhancement (outlines around edges). In fact, there are details present on the DVD that are missing from the Blu-ray. On the other hand, Braveheart (released on Blu-ray on the same day) has a fantastic picture and makes Gladiator look even worse. The best thing to do is to pick up Braveheart (if you like the movie, of course) and wait for the eventual re-release of Gladiator.

The BLU RAY version is a mess. The flaming arrows disappear, the other details in the opening scene are destroyed due to improper use of noise reduction, the faces look as though waxed over, EXCEPT for SOME of the extended portions that were added to the theater version, which are okay and better than those portions in the original release shown in theaters. Appearantly, this movie done without re-creating a master version from using actual ENTIRE film. Cancel your pre-ORDER ASAP, and keep your regular DVDs as the upscaling standard DVD is MUCH better.

Gladiator in blu ray a rip-off, and those resposnible should be fired. Maybe a class action lawsuit should be filed (however Braveheart is a good one in blu ray)