The original Gladiator is Ridley Scott’s magnum opus and remains one of the best films since the turn of the century. The script, despite being written on the fly, had great lines. Everyone old enough to have watched the original remembers “Are you not entertained?” and “What we do in life echoes in eternity.” These were delivered by a Russell Crowe in his prime — charming, sensitive, and as hard as nails. 

The opening scene, and much of the film, became a template for 21st-century historical action films. Scott alternates between massive wide shots and extreme close-ups to create a large scale that is also intimate. The combat sequences throughout the film are riveting, not only because they are tightly shot and gruesomely economical but also because we care about Crowe’s character, Maximus. He is our better self — broken, yes, but determined to keep what remains of his dignity and honor his wife and son until the bitter end. Joaquin Phoenix is perfect as Commodus. Even Derek Jacobi plays an actual character rather than Derek Jacobi, sage of the London stage, playing a character. It ends honestly with Maximus’s death, reminding us that while life is a mostly tragic affair, there is nobility to be found in suffering well.