Gladiator DVD

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 Great but.....
The original 2000 Gladiator DVD was the reason I bought my DVD player in the first place. I was first in the door opening day & have always enjoyed the film. I was glad to here this DVD expanded set was coming out, even though the original DVD 2 disc was good enough. But.....I have a question: Ridely & the people who put this set together. Where is the list of the chapter stops? I want them on every DVD I purchased. With an extended edition with 17 new minutes of footage, a chapter stop list is MUCH NEEDED & A BIG LOSS TO ME WITH THE PURCHASE. Russell earned his Oscar with the film.
Submitted by Ms Kris (home)
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 outstanding
A MOVIE THAT YOU WANT TO WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I HAVE SEEN IT AT LEAST 20 TIMES.
Submitted by a reviewer (new jersey, usa) 
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 A tremendous period piece.
This takes you back to ancient Rome...really feels like it. The dialogue, music, cinematography and acting are awesome. Russell Crow and Juaquin Phoenix are terrific.
Submitted by Trey Pettlon (Kansas City, Missouri, USA)
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 Awesome movie!
Gladiator was an awesome movie! Russell Crowe did a great job. It had tons of action, good plot, sad ending but I remembered Maxiumis's death. I also got this movie for my 15th birthday. I thought it was a good choice to get. Overall, I will give this movie an A+.
Submitted by joeldbatista (Tampa Florida)
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 FEATURE-LADEN DVD
Like most of RIDLEY SCOTT'S work, GLADIATOR is not only figuratively dark in tone but quite literally dark as well. Its colors are almost entirely of a bluish-grey tint, most scenes set either at night or during overcast days. This doesn't give the DVD transfer much to play with, and the result is rather dreary on the eyes. I'm sure the 2.13:1 ratio video reproduction is every bit as good as the original film print, but that isn't saying much. It's reminiscent in a way of TITUS but at least it doesn't mix the styles of ancient Rome with pseudo twentieth-century fascism in some silly attempt at symbolism. The audio, though, is outstanding, coming via Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS ES, or plain, old Dolby 2.0 stereo. In DD 5.1, the audience can hear catapult launchings, arrows flaming, swords clanging, and heads rolling from all directions, truly a dynamic SURROUND sound. Disc one of the set contains the film itself, plus an audio commentary with director RIDLEY SCOTT director of photography JOHN MATHIESON, and editor PIETRO SCALIA. English is the only spoken language, English is offered for subtitles, and there are twenty-eight scene selections. Disc two contains the preponderance of bonus items, starting with my favorite segment: eleven deleted scenes, followed by a seven-minute montage of leftover shots assembled especially for the DVD. The deleted scenes may be viewed with or without commentary. Next, there's a twenty-five-minute documentary, THE MAKING OF which does pretty much what most documentaries do, hypes the film. A more interesting documentary is one titled "Gladiator Games: Roman Blood Sport," about fifty minutes, detailing the facts behind the old Roman spectator sports. Another documentary, "Hans Zimmer: Scoring Gladiator," at twenty-one minutes seems overly long for a commentary on the film's music. Young actor Spencer Treat Clark, who plays Lucilla's son and Rome's heir apparent, wrote a diary during production, represented here as MY GLADIATOR JOURNAL.It holds some minor interest for viewers wanting inside information on the job of movie acting. Then, there are original storyboards for eight sequences in the film and four that were never used; conceptual art; a still gallery that goes on forever; cast and crew biographies and film highlights; a few lines of production notes; and twenty-eight scene selections. To round things off, there are several TV spots, one brief teaser, and a full-blown theatrical trailer. To conclude, I would advise the viewer to have fun and enjoy GLADIATOR but not to rely too heavily on Hollywood for real-life history. It is a film, after all. According to the ENCYLCLOPEDIA BRITTANICA Commodus was made co-ruler and successor to his father, emperor Marcus Aurelius, in 177 A.D. Commodus then joined in the campaign against invading German tribes, but after the death of his father in 180, he quickly came to terms with them. "In 182 Commodus' sister Lucilla conspired with a group of senators to assassinate him. The plot failed, and Commodus retaliated by executing a number of leading senators. Thereafter, his rule became increasingly arbitrary and vicious. In 186 he had his chief minister executed in order to appease the army; three years later he allowed the minister's successor to be killed by a rioting crowd. Political influence then passed to the emperor's mistress and two advisers. Meanwhile, Commodus was lapsing into insanity. He gave Rome a new name, Colonia Commodiana (Colony of Commodus), and imagined that he was the god Hercules, entering the arena to fight as a gladiator or to kill lions with bow and arrow. Finally, when Commodus announced that he would assume the consulship on Jan. 1, 193, dressed as a gladiator, the public became incensed. On Dec. 31, 192, his advisers had him strangled by a champion wrestler."
Submitted by COBRAFUNK (EDMOND, OK)
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