Badmovies.org Forum

Heads were butted at the Thanksgiving table yesterday, yes, they were! It was a testosterone-fueled discussion that morphed into a debate, and had cooler female heads not intervened, verily, this toe to toe conference among two film lovers might've actually escalated all the way to (gasp!) argument!

The topic so passionately at issue between two film-loving male cousins of mine was:

WHICH IS BETTER: Gladiator, OR Braveheart!

Anyone care to help settle the question once and for all for these two turkey day warriors of the cinematic battlefield?

Honestly, I couldn't decide. I would, however, argue if one is to attribute the term "good" or the superlative thereof to any of them...

same goes to Rob Roy, Troy, Alexander, ...

Gladiator.  Hands down.  What a magnificent film.  Do I need to come up there and join in the hostilities?  :bouncegiggle:

Gladiator

Braveheart, no doubt abut it.  Sorry, but Russell Crow just didn't have what it takes to pull off Maximus.  He ain't no Charlton Heston, I'll tell ya that.  On the other hand, Mel Gibson gave us a sympathetic and truly memorable character, as we followed his plight and understood his motivations.  Crow was just some boring guy surrounded by special effects.  The battles were indecipherable and looked like nothing more than a director trying to impose his "style" on something.   Braveheart had truly flinch-inducing battles, care to chop off a good chunk of calf meat with a sword?  No CGI tigers and other such nonsense.  And a tragic love story to boot. 

No comparison, my turkey engorged friends  :teddyr:

I prefer "Braveheart."  The battles were more to my liking, the characters and their motivations were more to my liking, and I think the overall script was better put together.  Parts of "Gladiator" seemed tacked on, like the final match between him and the emperor.

Jack kind of covered my opinion word for word so I'll add a vote in the Braveheart column. 

I prefer Gladiator.    :smile: :thumbup:

I have to go with Braveheart on this.  Among other things, I could actually tell what was going on in the battle scenes in Braveheart, where Gladiator was filmed in the "get the camera so close we can't tell who's doing what" style of shooting. Braveheart has better secondary characters ("The Lord says he can get me out of this, but he's pretty sure you're f**ked!"), way more quotable lines ("They may take our lives, but they'll never take our FREEDOM!") not to mention a cool bag pipe soundtrack.

I can't help think that Gladiator and Braveheart where going for different things.  Braveheart is loosely based on real events while Gladiator is more or less complete fiction.  Yes, there is more of a story to Braveheart because it wanted to tell a story.  Gladiator is meant to be more of a escapeist movie with big action scenes and sweeping vistas.  (I think that Rome was more visually appealing than Britian) 

Its a toss up I'd say.

I like both but "Braveheart" tells the (somewhat hollywoodised) story of an important part of Scottish history, the 'Wars Of Independence'. Incidentally, the Battle of Stirling Bridge sequence missed out a crucial element - the Bridge!

I think they both kind of suck.

As for me, I like them both, but I think I have to go with Braveheart by a whisker.

And I forgot to say thanks to everyone who replied.  :teddyr:

Oh, come on, Akira, you gotta do better than that.  At least define WHY you  thought they sucked, otherwise we may have to dock karma for making a simplistic post that doesn't even add to the thread at hand.

 :lookingup:

Your Welcome.

Add both of these to the list of movies I've never seen.  And while I like Scotland & the culture, the history is too tragic for me to really get into.  At least until Scotland once again is a free and independent nation!

Yer buggedout alright... who's "we"? (And that's "a" simplistic post that "doesn't...")  I think Akiratubo's comment did indeed add to the discussion.  I think both movies are kind of silly, though I will say over the holiday BRAY FART (can't help it, that's what I've always called that movie) was being played often and though I don't care for MEL GIBSON, I watched parts of it again, and I do think it's an entertaining flick, if absurd.  Plus, PATRICK McGOOHAN is always worth watching! 

Boy this is a toughie. Some people considered Gladiator a big budget peplum and I have a soft spot for those. But Braveheart had more humor, better shot battle scenes and was more fun overall. It's a real knuckle duster but I'm giving it to Brave Heart.  I'd like to see Maximus vs William Wallace. :cheers:

Gladiator (not to mention a long list of others) wouldn't have been made without the success of Braveheart. Gibson is currently boxoffice poison, but that movie is simply more memorable. Gladiator wasn't half-baked like Troy, or bad like Alexander, but I have a hard time recalling its strengths. The debate is best solved by comparing memorable scenes and a fan of Gladiator will probably remember more scenes from Braveheart than vice versa.

I liked BRAVEHEART more...but I'll take HERCULES AGAINST the MOON MEN any day!  :smile:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WGXs9H4n1s

Oh, man!!  Would I love to see a remake of "Hercules Against The Moonmen"!!  And bring back the Harryhausen selenites to fight on the side of the Moon Men!
* * *
I own Gladiator, whereas I do not own Braveheart, so I guess that's a default vote -- I certainly visited Wallace tower in Sterling last time I was in Scotland.  They have a huge stone statue of . . .  Mel Gibson!! -- outside the monument.  Would I poo to thee?  I think it's kind of like Sylvester Stallone giving his Rocky statue to the City of Philadelphia.

As a film, I guess I'm more taken with the savagery of gladitorial combat than men in blue wode.  Nothing against flying heads and the aforementioned carved calfs, but I still give it to Gladiator by a knife's edge -- plus I thought Joachim Phoenix was a truly slimy evil emperor, and a good villian will always tip the scale for me.  Nothing really against Braveheart . . . it comes down to picky details.

peter johnson/denny crane

Living in the Philly area, it's been a lot of fun to see the saga of the Rocky statue. The Art Museum (which is the site of the triumphant pose on top of the staircase with the theme song playing) didn't want it, thought it sullied their artistic standards. For awhile it was destined to live in South Philly, Rocky's neighborhood. But finally it has come to rest at the Museum, just to the right of the base of the steps, off in the garden and away from any precious art.

Guess where there's always a crowd of tourists taking pictures?

I think I like Gladiator better as well, though I'd be hard-pressed to name memorable scenes or tell you why I liked it, other than Russell Crowe's performance. It (the performance) worked for me, though not apparently for everyone.


After I saw this movie, I was so intrigued by the story I immediately went to the library to look up the truth about the emperor played by Phoenix. He was pretty much a wacko, and did a pretty good job of destroying the empire, but there doesn't seem to be much factual overlap between his life and the movie character. When he died he left a power vacuum with several different factions competing for rule of Rome.

How?

Saying something "sucks" isn't really that much of a statement, it's the most simplistic, borderline idiotic thing one can say especially when they don't even bother to back it up with any supportive statements.

"Wise men speak cause they have something to say, fools speak cause they have to say something."  -Chinese Proverb

Braveheart is the better film IMO by a country mile.  I'm not saying it's perfect, some of the dialogue is less than satisfactory at times, but Mel made up for it with some truly beautiful filmmaking, terrific acting and pacing/editing.

Gladiator was one of the most overhyped and disappointing movies that I have seen in the last 10 years.   The editing in particular was horrid which was most evident in the opening battle in the woods.  I still can't believe that this won Best Picture but I can also say that about some other Best Picture winners as well.

Although I definitely liked Gladiator....

Braveheart is better

That is just too funny!