I enjoyed this movie more tonight than when I first watched it. This despite the fact that the first time I saw it, it was on the big screen (this one is definitely designed for the big theater), and this time, it was on a relatively small television.

Maybe it was the mood I was in. Maybe it was the way it had built up so much hype before my first viewing, that nothing could be quite good enough to meet such expectations. This time, I mostly knew what I remembered it as being. It was better than I remembered it.

I really got into the Maximus character this time. Reading my first entry again, I had called the acting "hollow" and "cartoon"-ish. What was I thinking? Hmmm... Perhaps I was on a different mental wavelength. I dunno. I really liked it today.

Maybe I'll have to view it a third time a little later, and figure out conclusively which version of me was right. The version who was sitting in a theater in May of 2000, or the version of me near the end of the year 2001?

I really got into that whole struggle with the emperor this time. The acting on all sides was really good. And of course, those battle / coliseum scenes were awesomely done. I vote yay.