Maximus Decimus Kickus Assus

If you've heard the stories about the making of Ridley Scott's Gladiator then you'll know the film entered production without a finished script. Evidently, writing on the script progressed daily, as the movie was being shot, with the aim to find an appropriate ending to the tale of a vengeful soldier seeking to rid the Roman Empire of its immoral Emperor.

Of course, the end result is simply stunning. Russell Crowe demonstrated to the world exactly why he should be on the acting A-list. Joaquin Pheonix is fantastically unsettling. Connie Neilson is jaw dropingly elegant. And director Scott impressively manages to choreograph the towering performances of mega-drunks Richard Harris and Oliver Reed...launching the gravitas of the movie into the next solar system.

The production and photography is the richest Scott's movies had been for 15 years...and for the 9 year since. Hans Zimmer's score is amongst his best, which perfectly compliments the pounding action scenes (especially the Germanic battle at the movies start). That ever evolving unfinished script turned into something special. It managed to combine an epic story of politics and war with an intimate revenge plot.

Best of all it leads to that stunning resolution. While Maximus dies at the end, the movie ends on one gigantic high as Rome is freed from a dictatorship and Maximus is reunited with his family. One of Scott's best and one of the best of the decade.