Gladiator seemed right up my alley, with plenty of accolades behind it, yet managed to be pretty blase. I figure everything that made it exciting in 2000 Game of Thrones leveled up since then. It felt distinctly unviolent, which is a concerning thing to say about a film rated R for "intense, graphic combat." Other adult elements felt censored. And the script was cheesy. GoT is witty-cheesy, but Gladiator was takes-itself-too-seriously-cheesy, tries-to-sound-epic-cheesy. I hate founding an entire assessment on comparison to a like work, but like works totally adjust the value. Gladiator is so much less valuable in the wake of things like GoT. Really the only distinction serving Gladiator was its Roman setting. I enjoy such history. Everything else was a rushed, censored version of a GoT episode. I can't see Gladiator without thinking about GoT, and I can't pretend to enjoy Gladiator just because it predated GoT. I didn't like nor dislike Gladiator -- it was probably epic at the time and now pales beside later epics.
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