>>212614814 (OP)
this is such an incredibly overrated movie, I have no idea how it won awards
the acting and sets are good, but the fight scenes are awful and full of cuts so you barely can tell what's going on, and the script is absolutely terrible. The characters are one dimensional and generic, maximus does whatever the most predictable bitter hero trope possible would be in every scene. Commodus is evil for the sake of it, engaging in whatever behavior the audience is meant to hate him for at every moment. He is completely without any redeeming character traits, he's just stupid and evil the whole time and dies because of how stupid and evil he is. Lucilla does basically nothing the whole movie. It's extremely pretentious but has nothing to say, there is no character arc or character development, it has no artistry or style, it falsely pretends to be historical, and is generally just a movie designed to make stupid people feel smart.
6/10, would be 3/10 without joaquin phoenix
