Gladiator. What Mel Gibson did for kilts, Russell Crowe does for togas. Well, almost. Both Gibson and Crowe are Australian, and well suited to the role of rebel with a cause. One they will see through to the end, not matter what the cost. The difference is that Braveheart won Academy Awards, Gladiator surely will not. In fact, when the dust settles, Gladiator the movie will share the fate of many of the gladiators. Dead, gone and forgotten.

The film takes as is starting point an actual time in Roman history. It's the year 180 A.D. and the cultured and scholarly Emporer Marcus Aurelius is near death. Although a great writer, most of his reign was spent fighting barbarians, which is exactly where we find him at the film's outset. Now historians bemoan the fact that Marcus Aurelius elected to pass the empire on to his spoiled son, Commodus, who was obviously unequal to the task.

So the film Gladiator postulates Marcus Aurelius declares his intent to pass the empire to Maximus, his most trusted and skilled army general. But when Commodus hears of the choice, he kills his father and claims the empire as his own. Of course he orders that Maximus and his family be killed, and of course, he escapes death and vows to kill Commodus.

Now the real Commodus ruled for 12 years only to be strangled in his bath. By all reports he was a pathetic emporer, but a great fighter, often entering the ring to spar with the gladiators, much to the horror of the senators and the great entertainment of the rabble.

We get some hint of this in Gladiator, but not enough to really formulate the character of Commodus. In this movie, he is pretty wishy-washy, with precious little to recommend him. He has nothing of the insanity of a Nero or a Caligula, but no good deeds to boast about either.

Then there's Maximus, the fictional general, who ooses nobility and righteousness, such that you know he has to either die for his cause or live and take over the Roman Empire and change the history of the world. Russell Crowe is impressive in the role, and sure, he looks good in his armor, but the character is just not terribly interesting.

Beyond problems with the plot and the characters, I found the whole artistry of Gladiator to be sadly lacking. The shaky and indistinct battle scenes where men hack each other to death are poorly portrayed. And when we finally get to Rome, it is very badly portrayed by a dull gray computer generated model. Either the sun didn't shine in Rome back then, or someone forgot to color the darn thing in.

So other than to see Russell Crowe and to witness yet another cog in his rise to super-stardom, there is no reason to see Gladiator.