Would you believe I'd never actually seen this movie?
So, I finally Netflixed it, not expecting much in terms of historical accuracy. While the history is, obviously, Hollywoodized, Ridley Scott did create a grand Roman spectacle with admirable attention to detail. Hey, grand spectacle and battle scenes with a Hans Zimmer soundtrack? I don't know why I never watched it before.
But — guess which part annoyed the bayjeezus out of me?
That's right — the Hollywood-Stupid part: "Hello, I am the fucking Emperor of Rome. I want to prove what a bad-ass I am, so I will stick my enemy with a knife so he's bleeding out, then put armor on him and give him a live blade so we can fight in an arena. He's already proven to be very hard to kill and one of the best gladiators ever, but I'm the fucking Emperor of Rome so how can my clever plan possibly go wrong?"
Yeah, other than that part, good movie.