Previously, ancient history aside, if you mentioned ‘Gladiators’ to me, I’d probably sigh wistfully and remember those joyful childhood Saturday evenings spent watching grown men and women run about in spandex while poking each other with big bits of foam.

Good times.

Turns out Gladiator is also the name of the film at #96 on the IMDB list, starring Russell Crowe as Maximus, the general turned slave turned Gladiator who seeks to bring about the destruction of an empire. It’s pretty epic stuff, full of togas and Collosseum fight scenes involving tigers. Truthfully, I thought I might find this film boring. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good fight scene (as evidenced by the fact that Ong Bak 2 is in my Top 5 films), but something about macho Gladiators muscling around has never really appealed to me.

Despite this expectation, I actually thoroughly enjoyed the film. It’s a little slow to start, opening to battle scenes as the Romans attempt to conquer Germania, and you do spend much of the first twenty minutes wondering how the hell a General so high in the Caesar’s esteem suddenly becomes a Gladiator. Luckily, Maximus’ journey from the dizzying heights of a successful Roman general to the squalor of a man forced to fight for entertainment is not too far-fetched and provides a good source of motivation for the tortured protagonist.

Quote of the film though?

‘You sold me queer giraffes!’

I thought I was going to die laughing. Yes, yes, I know, I’m really childish.

Personally I feel I should get bonus points for watching this while wearing Gladiator sandals. Now whenever I look at them, I shall think of Russell Crowe…