(aka "The Gladiators" )
directed
by Ridley Scott
USA 2000
Gladiator is the kind of movie upon which Hollywood once built its reputation but rarely produces anymore: the spectacle. Filled with larger-than-life characters, gorgeous scenery, impressive set design, and epic storytelling, Gladiator is designed not just to entertain, but to enthrall. It draws audiences in and immerses them in a reality that is not their own. A boisterous reaction is expected every time the protagonist defies the odds and wins a conflict, or changes the tide of battle in his favor. This is filmmaking on a grand scale.
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Posters
Theatrical Release: May 1st, 2000 - Los Angeles , USA (Premiere)
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Comparison:
Dreamworks - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Columbia Tri-Star Home Video - Region 2 - PAL vs. Paramount (2-disc) - Region 'A' - Blu-ray |
Big thanks to Gary Tooze , Enrico E and Maarten de Haas for the DVD Screen Caps!
1) Dreamworks - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT 2) Columbia Tri-Star Home Video - Region 2 - PAL - SECOND3) Paramount (2-disc Sapphire Series) - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - RIGHT
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DVD Box Covers |
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Distribution |
Dreamworks Region 1 - NTSC |
Columbia Tri-Star Home Video Region 2 - PAL |
Paramount (Sapphire Series)Extended and Theatrical Cut Region 'A' - Blu-ray |
Runtime | 2:34:40 | 2:28:32 (4% PAL speedup) | Extended: 2:50:58, Theatrical - 2:35:01 |
Video |
2.31 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
2.32:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 48,335,265,792 bytesFeature: 40,230,770,688 bytesVideo Bitrate: 23.18 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video |
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Dreamworks
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Columbia Tri-Star Home Video
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Blu-ray
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Audio | English DTS 6.1 (discrete), Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround |
English DTS 6.1 ES (matrix), English Dolby Digital 5.1 |
DTS-HD Master Audio English 4404 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 4404
kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 24-bit) DUBs: Dolby Digital Audio French 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps / Dolby Surround Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps |
Subtitles | English, none | Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish and Turkish, none | English, French, Spanish, Korean, none |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Dreamworks Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 28 |
Release Information: Studio: Columbia Tri-Star Home Video Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details:
DVD
Release Date: November 20, 2000 Chapters 29 |
Release Information: Studio: Paramount
1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 48,335,265,792 bytesFeature: 40,230,770,688 bytesVideo Bitrate: 23.18 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Edition Details: • The Scrolls of Knowledge Trivia track • Visions From Elysium: Topic Marker
• Visions From Elysium TOP portal
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Strength And Honor: Creating The World of Gladiator. (8 chapters/topics 3:16:50)
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The Making of Gladiator—HBO First Look special (25:03) • An Evening With Russell Crowe (27:15) • Maximus Uncut - Between Takes With Russell Crowe (7:59)• My Gladiator Journal—Personal (text) • Image & Design— 5 Featurettes and galleries covering the production design, storyboards, costumes and more. • 5 Abandoned Sequences or Deleted Scenes • VFX Explorations: Germania & Rome (23:50) • Trailers (2 - 2:50 in total) • 20 TV Spots (8:55 in total) NOTE:
Extras have optional subtitles in
English, French, Spanish or Korean Chapters 28 |
Comments |
NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the Blu-ray disc. ADDITION: Universal Blu-ray August 2009: I've lived with this disc for about 1 1/2 days now and am still finding levels of interest subtly stacked within the package. There are 2 Blu-rays in this set. Truly this is an incredible digital achievement. Okay.... I watched the extended version first. This is part of Paramount's new 'Sapphire Series' (as is Braveheart). You immediately get the choice of viewing the 2:35:01 long Theatrical Version from 'MM A.D.' or the 2:50:58, unrated, Extended Version from 'MMV A.D.' (very cute). There is an optional Introduction by Ridley Scott. These 2 versions are seamlessly branched and take up over 40 Gig of space on the first dual-layered Blu-ray disc. The image appears to surpass even the 1080i HD TV (1.78.1 open matted) - which skin tones look quite a bit redder. Paramount's MPEG4 AVC transfer seems to have improved in every single facet of the visuals although it's not without it's digital manipulations with some minor edge-enhancement and some DNR. The image is certainly brighter - perhaps more than it may have been intended to be. It's tighter all around and is pretty impressive looking, outside of the egregious edge-enhancements, and I hope the captures below support this because this is one of the most anticipated Blu-rays - and many will snub the manipulation. Strangely the 'extended scenes' seem to have had no digital tinkering. People who project to a very large screen will find the filtering more visible - to an almost unwatchable level. The image is frequently dimensional. There is also a marginal amount more information shown in the side edges (compared to the DVD versions). While the video quality can make some swoon (and other wretch) the audio doesn't take a backseat. The DTS-HD Master 5.1 at a whopping 4404 kbps is ABSOLUTELY perfect. It has abundant separation with powerful bass and effect subtleties reaching the rear speakers all encompassed by Zimmer's uplifting score floating with nobility around the room. The first flaming arrow that is shot at around 9-minutes in seems to create an incredible amount of effect noise - just from that one motion! Then it just gets better in the battle sequence. It's absolutely reference and a perfect disc for demonstration purposes. There are 2 foreign language DUBs and optional subtitles and my Momitsu has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked. I don't think I've ever seen supplements on this level. You get separate audio commentaries for the original theatrical version and extended version of the film. In the extended Crowe and Scott expectantly get along well but, at almost 3 hours, it's a lot to fill and it's not all production and technically related but they do cover an incredible amount. They talk fondly about Richard Harris and other more personal expressions. Also on disc one we get The Scrolls of Knowledge. This is an original trivia track that has been newly enhanced with 43 focal points allowing viewers to access a series of new behind-the-scenes featurettes exploring key scenes and how they relate to the historical accuracy depicted in the film. The extended version of the film also includes a deleted scene marker. Visions From Elysium: Topic Marker—Here viewers can tag over 200 separate moments of interest throughout either version of the film, allowing them to create “shopping lists” of topics to learn more about. Thanks to the Blu-ray player’s memory, the topics will automatically be loaded when Disc 2 is inserted, giving viewers immediate access to featurettes and galleries of interest. On disc 2 - your shopping list will enact through the Visions From Elysium portal. It's highly impressive - really a great interactive feature. Strength And Honor: Creating The World of Gladiator—The definitive 3 hour 15 minute, 8-chaptered documentary on the origin, production and impact of the Oscar-winning classic. The documentary includes an all-new Enhanced Viewing Mode allowing viewers access to additional interviews and behind-the-scenes material. Under the main topic of The Aurelian Archives - we get, the previously seen on DVD supplements including The Making of Gladiator the HBO First Look special running about 25-minutes. It's in SD and pales in comparison to the main documentary feature. Gladiator Games: The Roman Bloodsport is a Learning Channel special at almost an hour on the historical aspect of the topic. It's not bad at all - quite educational. Hans Zimmer: Scoring Gladiator is an exploration of the beautiful soundtrack lasting 20-minutes. An Evening With Russell Crowe shows the actor's humor during a-kind-of Q&A with a crowd for about 1/2 an hour. Maximus Uncut - Between Takes With Russell Crowe has more of the fun side of the production for just 7-minutes. My Gladiator Journal—Personal diary of the young actor who played Lucius is a text screen profile of the young actor's experiences on the set of Gladiator. Image & Design features five separate featurettes and galleries covering the production design, storyboards, costumes and more. There are five "Abandoned Sequences or Deleted Scenes" (Alternate Title Design, Blood Vision, Rhino Fight, Choose Your Wagon and Treasure Chest). VFX Explorations: Germania & Rome details shot deconstruction with the visual effects artists lasting 23-minutes. There are 2 Trailers (2:50 in total) and a massive 20 short TV Spots (8:55 in total). NOTE: Extras have optional subtitles in English, French, Spanish or Korean. Whewww... unreal. Well, despite your opinions on the film or it's Oscar worthiness - this Paramount Blu-ray is in a class by itself with the supplements. It covers every nook and cranny of desirability with a plethora of extras and strong, if overly tampered, video. An unbelievable value for all that is included. I'd say this is possibly the best Blu-ray of the year for extras but we shake our heads at the digital manipulations and EE. I'm just going over the 'Sapphire Series' Braveheart now and it seems equally triumphant so far BUT free of enhancements! Gary Tooze
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ON THE DVDs: Both SD-DVDs look very good with only some minor variances. It appears that the discrete 6.1 audio of the Region 1 is better than the matrix 6.1 on the Region 2. Menu's are the same. For image quality I'll go for R1 for a slight superiority in sharpness. This is negligible though. Colors are accurate in both editions. Subtitles go for the R1, the R2 are a little clunky. -Maarten de Haas and Gary Tooze
NOTE: |
DVD Menus
(Dreamworks - Region 1 - NTSC -
LEFT vs. Columbia Tri-Star Home Video - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)
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CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGE IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Subtitle Sample
(Dreamworks - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Columbia Tri-Star Home Video - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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Screen Captures
1) Dreamworks - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP 2) Columbia Tri-Star Home Video - Region 2 - PAL - SECOND3) HDTV - THIRD 4) Paramount (2-disc Sapphire Series) - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM
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1) Dreamworks - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP 2) Columbia Tri-Star Home Video - Region 2 - PAL - SECOND3) HDTV - THIRD 4) Paramount (2-disc Sapphire Series) - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM
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1) Dreamworks - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP 2) Columbia Tri-Star Home Video - Region 2 - PAL - SECOND3) HDTV - THIRD 4) Paramount (2-disc Sapphire Series) - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM
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1) Dreamworks - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP 2) Columbia Tri-Star Home Video - Region 2 - PAL - SECOND3) HDTV - THIRD 4) Paramount (2-disc Sapphire Series) - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM
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Report Card:
Image: |
Blu-ray |
Sound: |
Blu-ray |
Extras: | Blu-ray |
Menu: | Blu-ray |
DVD Box Covers |
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Distribution |
Dreamworks Region 1 - NTSC |
Columbia Tri-Star Home Video Region 2 - PAL |
Paramount (Sapphire Series) Extended and Theatrical Cut Region 'A' - Blu-ray |
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Gary Tooze
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Many Thanks...