Who doesn't love a movie where the protagonist goes on a quest for revenge in many action sequences for his taste for sweet, sweet revenge? When classifying films in this type of category, one film that stands out above the rest has to be Gladiator. Gladiator can be considered one of the greatest action films of all time, and for good reason. The soundtrack, dialogues and characters have no equal in the revenge action film category and can be considered the best pure action films. Gladiator is a perfectly complete film that adds the best of all worlds to create the masterpiece seen today. Ridley Scott's masterpiece Gladiator was released to the public in 2000. Received with initial success and considered one of the best films of the year. , when it was released in 2000, Gladiator received numerous awards. The film was nominated for twelve Academy Awards, winning five, including Best Picture, twelve BAFTA Awards and five Golden Globe Awards, winning two, including Best Original Score. The AFI 100 Heroes and Villains, which ranks the hundred best heroes and villains of the last hundred years, ranked Maximus Decimus Meredius, played by Russell Crowe, as the fiftieth best hero character of the last hundred years, also Empire Magazine. ranked Maximus as the thirty-fifth greatest movie character of all time. Gladiator was a highly influential film that sparked American audiences' curiosity about Roman and classical history, in what is now known as the "Gladiator Effect." This renewed interest in the story has prompted many screenwriters to create a film that will live up to Gladiator's name as a predecessor to a renewed interest. Some would argue that Hans Zimmer is the greatest composer of films of ...... middle of paper ...... important role. Although he didn't win the award, Phoenix did such an excellent job as the incestuous murderer Commodus that audiences could see into Commodus' very psyche and sense that Commodus was not the sane emperor that he thought he was. These two actors did a great job creating one of the best rivalries between protagonists and antagonists that an action movie has ever seen. Gladiator was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, action films of all time. A fantastic soundtrack composed by the great Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard. Many memorable quotes and scenes that leave a permanent imprint on the brain like the dialogue between Commodus and Maximus during Maximus' revelation. Great actors, like Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix, playing well-developed characters. Gladiator does not disappoint and is considered, and should be, the greatest action film of all time.