Gladiator Is Glorious on DVD

Johnny Lo
Editor-in-Chief

"The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an empire."

That's the tagline for the movie Gladiator, this past summer's blockbuster hit about Maximus and his story of betrayal, enslavement, and eventual glory. I'm assuming most of you have already seen Gladiator, so I'll focus on the features of the DVD.

Russell Crowe as Maximus the Gladiator © 2000 Dreamworks LLC and Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Special Features:

2.35:1 Anamorphic widescreen
DTS-ES 6.1 Surround
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Dolby 2.0 Surround
Subtitles: English
Director's commentary track (Ridley Scott)
Deleted scenes, also with director's commentary
Treasure chest: a montage of additional footage
Interview with composer Hans Zimmer
Behind-the-scenes, Making of Gladiator
Behind-the-history, Life of a Gladiator
Production diary of Treat Clark (Lucius)
Slideshow of concept art and storyboards
Photo gallery from Gladiator
Theatrical trailers, TV spots
Production notes and profiles

Video:

The video quality on this 2.35:1 anamorphic DVD is astounding. Some of the deepest colors I've seen, and definitely very beautiful. The movie itself was shot excellently by Ridley Scott, and the CG elements of the film blend well with the live-action portions. Going from the fields of Germania to the deserts of Africa and to the glory of Rome, the shots are exquisitely framed and the digitally enhanced locations look like their real-life counterparts.

Audio:

The audio quality is awesome, though I don't have a 5.1 nor 6.1 system in my lounge. I'm sure it would be even more powerful. The thunderous roar of battle, the cheering of the crowd at the Coliseum, and the great musical score of Hans Zimmer comes out loud and clear. The soundtrack and sound effects are really immersive, and bring you into the movie.

Packaging and Menu:

The packaging is great. The cover features a nice shot of Russell Crowe standing menacingly in the foreground, and the Coliseum in the background. The interior packing has a neat design to hold both DVD's, the movie and the extras disc. The amaray case size is the same as a single disc DVD, so you don't have to worry about this taking up an extra slot. The menu features the Coliseum with the music from Hans Zimmer's score playing in the background. Nicely done.

Extras:

The extras on this DVD are great. Featuring over four hours of additional material on the bonus disc, the extras span from behind-the-scenes documentaries to art galleries and production notes and diaries. I particularly enjoyed the making-of-Gladiator featurette, as well as some of the deleted scenes. I sometimes wonder what kind of mastering process they use when they master movies for the big screen, because these deleted scenes look a lot worse in quality than the finished production. You can also compare the Gladiator trailers with those of the Chicken Run ones. =)

Conclusion:

All-in-all, this DVD release is great quality for a great price. When I originally pre-ordered it, it was only about 18 bucks. This DVD release is definitely worth it. With a great action movie like The Gladiator, you really do want all the extras. Ridley Scott has done a superb job, and there's good acting all around. I highly recommend this release.

JLo:

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