Are you not entertained? But is that really why you are here?
The genius of the 2000 movie “Gladiator” wasn’t just the music, the acting of Russell Crowe, or the ancient Roman setting. The movie had all of these things in spades, and to call it entertaining would be a gross understatement.
The beating heart of “Gladiator”—the thing that made it a masterpiece—was its central coherent theme: the brave and noble fight against adversity to restore justice. It wasn’t just fun to see Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) fight his way through multiple rounds of gladiatorial combat to ultimately face the emperor one-on-one, it was inspiring, even edifying.
The movie roused young men to become heroic in their own lives, even when the world seems dead-set against them.
I would know—I am one of those (now less young) men.
Sadly, the sequel…
