I went with three friends last night to go see Gladiator at the Mercado theater in Santa Clara. It sucked. One of the worst "big" movies I've seen. All four of us disliked it (two men, two women). The battle scenes, while elaborately arranged, were some of the most confusing I've ever seen. The score was awful, often putting in soft music to slow motion battle scenes. The computer effects made Rome look like it was bathed in some Empyrean light with mist constantly floating around the corners of the screen as if some crazed fog machine that could not be turned off had taken over the sets. There were numerous other things wrong with this movie, but I don't have time to go into them now. Suffice it to say that you are forewarned.
Russell Crowe and Oliver Reed are about two of the only things good about the movie.
The theater was sold out for all of last night (I had prepaid tickets). The film seemed to draw a mixed reaction from the audience I saw it with. Some applauded at the end. Others laughed at the most inapporpiate moments, signaling to me that they thought the film was silly. A couple of what I took to be East Indian programmers (young geeky nerd types) sitting behind me kept editoralizing during the film about how bad it was.
