I'll be honest, I put off watching this film because of how popular it was. Usually I go into a super popular film with high expectations and leave feeling disappointed but I didn't get that with this movie. For a film that was released in the year 2000 the cinematography displayed was absolutely spectacular and ahead of its time. Beating things such as the initial Harry Potter releases and Christopher Eccleston's series of Doctor Who bearing in mind these came a few years after so in terms of shots this film was definitely ahead of its time.

Moving onto acting which was once again superb. We had a lot of famous faces here when they were in there prime. People like the obvious, (Russeln Crowe), who later went on to star in Les Miserables, Jacquain Phoenix, (who later played the Joker), and Richard Harris, (who played Dumbledore in the first few Harry Potter films). There were also many other amazing casting choices that consisted of new to me actors and actresses. Overall the cast was very strong and not a single one of them didn't have me believing in the characters. Even the young actors had it all going for them.

Storyline: As someone who has always been interested in Ancient Rome and recently got to visit it for myself, this was just perfect for me. The story showcased exactly what I would expect from this type of film and even more. It had the arena fights, the betrayals, the list for power and all were shown through absolutely fantastically scripted scenes.

if you haven't seen this film then I promise you, you should.