Product Description

Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, Derek JacobiDirector: Ridley Scott

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115 in DVD
• Brand: Blu-ray Action & Adventure
• Released on: 2009-09-07
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .33 pounds
• Running time: 155 minutes

DVD Description
Gladiator picked up five Academy Awards® and tells the story of Maximus Decimus (played by Russell Crowe), a Roman general who is betrayed by the corrupt prince Commodus. Captured and enslaved along the outer fringes of the Roman Empire, Maximus rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena to avenge the murders of his family and his emperor.
This format defining release is presented on two BD 50 dual-layer discs and includes 11 hours of extra content. The first disc will include both the theatrical and extended version of the film, audio commentary, deleted scenes and the Vision of Elysium: Topic Portal, a new U-Control feature that allows viewers to tag moments of interest throughout the film and create a "shopping list" of topics to learn about in the supplements on disc two. The second disc also includes Strength and Honour: Creating the World of Gladiator, the definitive documentary on the origin, product and impact of the film.

Special Features
Disc One

Theatrical version: MM A.D. (155 mins.)

• Audio commentary by director Ridley Scott, cinematographer John Mathieson and editor Pietro Scalia
• Deleted Scenes with optional commentary

Extended version: MMV A.D. (171 mins.)

• Introduction by Ridley Scott
• Audio commentary by Director Ridley Scott and actor Russell Crowe

U-control features on both theatrical and extended versions:

• The Scrolls of Knowledge: the original Are you not entertained trivia track newly enhanced allowing viewers to access a series of new behind-the-scenes featurettes exploring key scenes throughout the film
• Vision of Elysium: Topic Portal, a U-Control feature that allows you while watching disc one to tag moments of interest throughout the entire film, creating a “shopping lists” of topics to learn more about from the features on disc two

Disc Two

Vision of Elysium: Topic Portal, a U-Control feature that automatically accesses further content from tagged moments of interest that have been marked by you from disc one

Strength and Honour: Creating the World of Gladiator (200 mins.): The definitive documentary on the origin, production and impact of this Oscar-winning Best Picture, includes:

• Tale of the Scribes: Story Development
• The Tools of War: Weapons
• Attire of the Realm: Costume Design
• The Heat of Battle: Production Journals Germania / Zucchabar / Rome
• Shadows and Dust: Resurrecting Proximo
• The Glory of Rome: Visual Effects
• Echoes in Eternity: Release and Impact

Strength and Honour will now include all-new Picture-In-Picture content accessed via U-Control (156mins)

Aurelian Archives:

• The Making of Gladiator (25 mins.)
• Gladiator Games: The Roman Bloodsport (50mins.)
• Hans Zimmer: Scoring Gladiator(21 mins.)
• Maximus Uncut: Between the Takes with Russell Crowe (8mins.)
• My Gladiator Journal by Spencer Treat Clark (Text/Photos): the personal diary of the young actor who played Lucius, providing a unique and amusing perspective on the creation of an epic film
• VFX Explorations: Germania and Rome (24 mins.)

Image and Design

• Production Design Featurette and Galleries (10 mins.)
• Storyboard Demonstration (14 mins.)
• Multi-Angle Storyboard Comparisons and Galleries (15 mins. x 2 angles)
• Ridleygram Galleries
• Costume Design Galleries
• Photo Galleries

Abandoned Sequences and Deleted Scenes:

• Alternate opening: titles and featurette (9 mins.)
• Blood Vision (with optional commentary) (3 mins.)
• Rhino Fight (with optional commentary) (5 mins.)
• Choose Your Weapon (1 min.)
• Treasure Chest (7mins)

Trailers and TV Spots (13 mins.)

Synopsis
A violent drama set in Roman times under the rule of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Maximus, a Roman general, finds himself caught up in the battle for the throne when the Emperor chooses him over his son Commodus. When Maximus discovers that his family has been slaughtered he allows himself to be captured and thrown into the gladiator games as a slave...

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Customer Reviews

Such a dissapointing transfer for such a great film
As the title suggests, this is a great film but has unfortunately been butchered on blu ray. The picture quality is absolutely dreadful, the studio has applied so much DNR (Digital Noise Reduction) to try to remove grain that they have actually removed a lot of detail in the picture itself! Crucially though, Ridley Scott filmed this with the intention of many of the battle scenes being very grainy (it makes them seem for more gritty and real) - so to remove it would surely go against his wishes!

In the opening battle scenes in Germania for example, about half of the flaming arrows fired by the Romans have been erased on the blu ray compared to the DVD. What's worse is that the ones that remain flicker in and out of existence in a really obvious manner. Likewise Roman soldiers have their spears erased or cut in half (I'm not joking - look up AVS Forums and you'll see screenshots of what I mean). But worst of all is that the studio seems to have actually added in some print damage that wasn't present on the DVD! In some scenes (only for a split second mind you) a strange blueish blob (admittedly very small) can flash up - what's up with that?

The real kick in the teeth though is that all these problems only affect the theatrical portions of the film - all of the extended scenes have been left unmolested, and here the picture quality is fantastic. But it is very jarring when watching these scenes as you'll go from blurry to very sharp and then back again - again this is obvious to the "untrained eye" so to speak.

Ultimately it is an absolute travesty that this film has been released in such a state. It reminds me of the first US release of the Fifth Element on blu ray which was so appalling that Sony was forced to release a better version within a year (the re-release was actually very good and is region free for those that are interested).

The point remains, though, that we should not have to wait for a re-release to experience this film in a manner that blu ray is supposed to. Had the audio just been an issue then it wouldn't have mattered much, but to have the picture quality so heavily compromised that an upscaled DVD actually contains more detail is disgusting!

Very poor transfer
They have used an old DVD master to create this and then used so much noise reduction/scratch removal that arrows, spears, fireballs have literally been edited out of the picture. Overall the picture quality is average at best. Buyer beware.

Beware!!
Beware, Gladiator fans...the US release is having very bad reviews because of a very poor transfer with huge DNR, loss of details, and waxy faces. You should check this carefully before purchasing it (e.g., latest reviews in Amazon.com, or in specialised magazines, paper and on-line); we should make the studios know that we do not want bad transfers in the high-definition era.