Gladiator

Gladiator followed the strife between Maximus and Commodus. Commodus’s father was emperor but felt that his son was too immoral to be the next one so he tells his friend Maximus that he is next. Well, Commodus does not like this very much and kills his father and then kills Maximus’s entire family. After the death of his father, he meets with the Senate where it is made utterly clear that he only cares about power, not the people of Rome. While Commodus holds power he throws a series of special gladiatorial games to honor his father where Maximus comes disguised and does incredibly well. However, Commodus discovers who he actually is well, not pleased, but Maximus had already won the favor of the crowd so it’s not like Commodus could kill him, or at least not yet. It is here that Maximus declares that he intends to get revenge on Commodus. After this Commodus’s sister visits him bc she has suspicions about her brother but Maximus does trust her due to her relations with Commodus. However, it’s not long until they’re hooking up and plotting to overthrow Commodus along with some other accomplices. At that point though Commodus has made it very clear that he is in fact evil. After a lot of scheming on both sides Commodus and Maximus end up battling each other where Maximus technically wins but they both die, but it’s okay because the republic is saved which ultimately was the goal. This is the film where the famous “are you not entertained?” scene comes from but I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t very entertained. Parts were hard to follow for me and I found the romance plot cheesy and very American rather than Roman. But I guess that’s Hollywood for you. I wish it was either more Roman and accurate or leaned into the cheesy Hollywood more, I just didn’t feel like the two mixed well. I would rate it a 5/10, I know it’s controversial but I don’t get the hype. I much preferred Netflix’s “Roman Empire.”