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Title: Hardly the Best
Review: Okay, no. This is not the "greatest movie ever made", nor is it anywhere up there with a "movie of the year!" This was an average movie plagued with clichés and themes already covered by better films.I loved the first battle scene. It was beautiful, despite the death and destruction taking place. However, once that scene is over, the movie takes a steady nose-dive through the rest of the film. From the death of his wife, the gladiator imprisonment and "Spartacus-esque" training sequences, the villains idiotic decision that taking on the most successful gladiator in Rome could be a good idea (not to mention he's got the jones for his sister), right down to the "I've seen that so many times before!" ending, there wasn't really an original idea in the whole picture. Top that off with what literally looks like dirt and dust the director forgot to wash off the film reel, and you get a ho-hum movie that's probably only worth watching for the fight scenes.
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