Μύ "Gladiator" arrives on DVD in this two-disc set boasting a Roman-Empire-sized array of extra features that ultimately this review can only brush over. There are hours of material on offer and Ridley Scott gives a veritable masterclass on making a movie in his director's commentary.
Such a colossal film deserves a mighty soundtrack and weaker amplifiers will be trembling in fear of this DVD. Not only do you get a 5.1 Dolby Digital mix but also a DTS mix as well. If you have a decoder for DTS you'll finally be able to explore the lower sonic depth that this lends to an already Herculean sound track.
The picture quality is everything one could hope for and is rich in depth and tone. Pleasingly, the CGI scenes don't suffer from the sharpness of the DVD image, that can often make other blockbusters like "The Mummy" look rather unconvincing.
The commentary by director Ridley Scott, director of photography John Mathieson, and editor Pietro Scalia is the most informative of all the extra features. Scott tends to dominate but imparts a lot of detail into the making of the film and points out a surprising number of scenes that do not have CGI effects in them.
He also offers his opinions on the 12 deleted scenes on the disc. His best is for the 'Fed to the Lions' extract, which he didn't include because the "lion didn't eat the child very well"! More thoughts from him, key production staff, and actors offer further insight in an interesting 'making of' featurette.
If you want to know more about the actual period that the film is set in, then watch the 50-minute "Gladiator Games" documentary on disc two.
A detailed profile of the music through interviews with composer Hans Zimmer is also very interesting, as are the pile of storyboards, conceptual artwork, and stills. And there's yet more but you'll be able find this all out for yourself as this is one of those 'must own' disc sets.
Chapters: 28
Ratio: 2.35:1
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 ES
Extra Features: Scene selection, 'making of' featurette, deleted scenes with optional commentary, "Gladiator Games" documentary, Feature length director's commentary, Hans Zimmer profile, 'best of' deleted scenes montage, Spencer Treat Clark production journal, storyboard comparisons and conceptual art, photo gallery, trailers, animated menus, production notes, cast and crew biographies, multiple subtitles.
