Yeah, and not only that, but I also found out that the Romans didn't even speak English like in the film! This movie is just too messed up with the languages!

Let's just say that the more you know and care about this period of history, the less respect you will have for the scriptwriters. There isn't a single scene where a viewer's possible enjoyment isn't totally choked by historical inaccuracies.

One example among hundreds: When Maximus tells Lucilla, with lowered eyes, that he has heard about her husband's passing away, it's a major groaner since Lucius Verus passed away a full 11 years (in 169 AD) before the time of this conversation (180 AD) - a full three years before the birth of his supposed son, by the way - and the news could hardly have travelled this slowly since Verus happened to be co-emperor of the whole Roman world with Marcus Aurelius at the time of his death ...

The names Cicero (a soldier) and Gracchus (a senator) are probably the first names that came to mind to the ignorant scriptwriters but they have absolutely no relation with the famous men who bore those names, who lived hundreds of years before and were prominently featured respectively in the films Cleopatra and Spartacus, thus creating unnecessary confusion in film buffs everywhere.

On and on and on until you can only reach the conclusion that this script was mostly inspired by pizza, beer, laziness and a deadline.

I am outraged! While I expect some liberties to be taken in regards to events for the sake of entertainment, an 11 year discrepancy is outrageous and wholly unacceptable. I hope Ridley Scott gets trampled to death by elephants for allowing such a painfully obvious error to ever occur.

I'm sure you will thoroughly enjoy Ridley Scott's next project which documents JFK's affair with Monica Lewinsky.

And I'm just scratching the surface here. In order for Maximus to have had an affair with Lucilla (Was it an affair, by the way? It's not very clear. All we know is he had his heart broken, the big cry-baby...) and have even possibly fathered her son eight years before (that's not clear either) while he was simultaneously busy making his wife pregnant in Spain, and allowing that Lucilla's husband was still alive at the time of the affair and the birth of his son since Maximus knows about the son but didn't have a chance to talk to Lucilla about Lucius' death before (which gives Lucius at least three extra years of life over the official record), Maximus would have had to at least visit Rome once in a while in order to diddle Lucilla, which he says he never did in his life (visit Rome, that is). And that is impossible because in order to become a general he would have had to be a senator first and therefore live in Rome at least part of his life. And if he was a senator, he wouldn't consider the senators he has to deal with like Martians with three heads since he was one of them and all that stupid banter of Commodus warning Maximus against senators and their devious ways is just so much hogwash.

And if Maximus had had the affair before Lucilla married Lucius (in 164), that would have been at least 16 years before (talk about ancient history) and Maximus would have had no excuse not to know about her husband's death anyway, having presumably known about her marriage to Lucius and the birth of Lucius' son, even if Maximus had lived on an island all this time and Lucius had died in 172 intead of 169.

But what can you expect from a film where a straight-faced character says things like "Rome was founded as a republic" when, d'uh, Rome was founded as a monarchy? Unless what he really meant to say was "the republic of Rome was founded as a republic", which, you will admit, falls a little short of Oscar-winning dialog...

As much as the scriptwriters (previously known for such masterpieces as Tornado!, Bats! and First Knight) have pilfered from the film The Fall of the Roman Empire (1963), they can't even get the basics right and their film is not so much about Ancient Rome as it is about a galaxy, far, far away...

As the daughter in Married With Children used to say: "The mind wobbles."

Well, at least one person's mind...

The film's official tagline says: "What You Do In Life Echoes In Eternity"... I would simply add the proviso: "unless what you do in life happens to be made into a movie by Ridley Scott".

Good for us, eh? :)

The last time I had my anus discussed so extensively, I was spread out in my doctor's office for a general check-up.

http://www.hogrockcafe.com/Vince%20M...ers%202002.jpg

<i>lets not post images like this..OK</i>

Now baracine, I might be inclined to agree with you on this if it was supposed to be based on a true story or something, but there has to be some level of separation between textbook details and the script of a historical fiction . . . or any fiction that is based reality, for that matter.

For example, one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies is Hackers . . . it's cheesy and LOADED with technological inaccuracies, but I still enjoy it. I've been working the internet, programming, networking, etc. since the early 90's, so the errors are very obvious to me, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the movie, because I'm not watching it for technical accuracy . . . I'm watching it for the story, comedy, etc. I'd have a lot of movies that I wouldn't watch if I couldn't get past the things that they didn't get quite right.

Finished watching the 3rd disc today... Wow simply amazing DVD. The Extended version was Great, the extra footage wasn't distracting at all and actually made it better. The 3hour+ documentary was just a nice piece of work. I have the Original one and I'm happy and don't regret getting this one also... I recommend it, a must have.

Has no one been able to access the easter egg found on disc 2 according to the digital bits???
smurr

I did (but not due to The Digital Bits). It's about the potential sequel.

yo scoobooz how did you find it??? please help
thanks
smurr

I came across this Used although it wasn't in the digipack set, but it contained only the first disc via amaray case. I guess this has been re-released to condense the size of the original packaging or it could be a former rental.

For those that don't usually pop into the DVD Bargains section, this set is showing up at Dollar General stores for $5.