Worst movie to win Best Picture?
"Crash" or "Forrest Gump."
shareCrash really sucked
I loved Forrest Gump
Gladiator was not deserving
Gladiator sucked
Oh, I almost forgot: The English Patient. Staying awake through that one requires super-human strength.
Gladiator was Rocky on downers with fuzzy, dull and muddled art direction according to Ebert's review and I couldn't agree more
That first battle scene gave me a headache on the big screen...I just knew I was in for a bad time!
English Patient was pretty slow though I did like it
The romantic angle was sweet and I kept hoping that the Indian bomb disposal guy would make it...lot of suspense there
Overall ok, but yes, pretty slow
There are two things in Gladiator's favour: the sublime musical score and Russell Crowe's passionate performance.
Apart from that it's a rather scrappy, and, as you say, muddy-looking rip-off of Braveheart, which wasn't all that great the first time around.
I think it's the treatment of Jenny that always bothered me. Why the movie seems to loathe her so is beyond me.
shareJenny was an unpleasant character
Very hard to root for and a rough death too
Bit of a tearjerker now that you mention it
On one hand Jenny's narrative bothered me, because the implication seemed to be that she was being punished for choosing the anti-establishment counterculture, in contrast to Gump.
On the other hand, Gump suffers the tragedy of Jenny's death, so it's not like he comes out of his straight-arrow path completely unbruised, and, when I really think about it, I think Jenny's traumatic and tragic life is used as a counterpoint to Gump's simply to demonstrate the impact a childhood of abuse can inflict on a person in contrast to the love and dedication Gump's struggling single mother was nevertheless able to give her child.