Winner of Best Picture and Best Actor Academy Awards, director Ridley Scott's stirring spectacle stars Russell Crowe as heroic Roman general Maximus. Chosen to succeed ailing emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris), Maximus is marked for death by the scheming imperial son (Joaquin Phoenix). After being sold into slavery, Maximus emerges as the empire's greatest gladiator and seeks vengeance in a showdown at the Colosseum.