Gladiator (2000) - 178 mistakes

Visible crew/equipment: In the "Battle of Carthage" in the Colosseum, one of the chariots is turned over. Once the dust settles you can see a gas cylinder in the back of the chariot.

Visible crew/equipment: After the battle with the Germanians, the next morning after the tavern, he is walking in the army camp and he feeds a horse a piece of apple. If you look closely between Maximus and the horse, there is a crewman wearing a pair of blue jeans.

Factual error: When a group of soldiers goes to Maximus' villa to burn it and kill his family, his son points them, saying in perfect Italian "Mama! I soldati!" I just don't understand why he speaks Italian in a movie in English, where people are supposed to speak Latin, in a province where this language was never ever spoken.

Continuity: After Maximus and Tigris' battle, Tigris falls to the ground and we see his mask is already up. Maximus then pulls the mask up which has magically come down over Tigris' face again.

Revealing: As Maximus approached his home after he should have been killed, the grain fields clearly show marks which are only caused by a tractor during crop spraying.

Visible crew/equipment: When Maximus is told the Emperor is dead we see him barge past Commodus to see the body. Look behind Commodus at the roof and you should see an electrical stage light.

Continuity: During the first Gladiator match in Morocco, Maximus and Juba are chained together. Once they have killed the last man, the camera takes us around the arena.  You can clearly see the shadow of the camera on Maximus' chest. It happens twice.

Revealing: After the final fight scene, where Maximus is dead and on his back in the sand, his armour should have made his head droop horribly backwards. To avoid that, the filming crew put a pillow of sand under his head to raise it about three inches.

Factual error: In one of the scenes in Rome leading up to a fight, leaflets are being handed out. These didn't exist, event notices were written up on boards.

Continuity: During the enactment of the Battle of Zama, Maximus rides his horse around a bend with his sword in his left hand. When we cut to close up, it's back in his right. Looking at the left-handed shot in freeze-frame, you can see the frame has been flipped, left-to-right (check the armor). This was probably for continuity reasons. Similarly, Maximus jumps on the horse and his shoulder protector is clearly on his injured left shoulder. However, a few frames later, the protector is on his right shoulder, then it moves yet again back the correct spot, the left shoulder.

Visible crew/equipment: During the scene where Maximus throws the sword into the crowd and yells "are you not entertained," the camera pans around, and in the crowd, for a split second, you can see a cameraman in jeans and a shirt standing next to a camera. This is visible on the big screen, but hard to see on video, unless you see it on DVD and can zoom in.

Factual error: Before Maximus enters the colliseum, he selects a helmet and places it on his head. On the rack is a copy of a saxon helmet found at Sutton Hoo, England and part of the treasure found at that location. Unfortunately this is a 7th century design.

Deliberate "mistake": In the fight scene with the chariots Maximus takes one of the horses from a chariot and jumps on it. The horse already has a saddle complete with stirrups despite the fact it was pulling a chariot and not carrying a rider.

Continuity: When Hagen tests Maximus in the sword fighting, watch closely the scene behind them. At the time when Hagen strikes Maximus for the first time you can see gladiator behind taking a glass. At the time of the second strike you can see only a glass. When Hagen stopped his third strike you can see the same gladiator holding a glass and looking around. This time he is turned toward the camera and you can see a red spot on his chest.

Other: When Maximus enters the arena before facing Tigris, the camera pans around the crowd. At one point, you can see a young Hispanic girl wearing a "scrunchie" holding her hair in a perfect ponytail, several bracelets and a watch, a necklace, a cut-off white t-shirt, and blue jeans. Most noticeable in full screen version.

Factual error: When the execution squad is ready, Quintus says "fire". Of course this is incorrect, since you don't fire a bow and arrow, but "loose" it. The term "fire" came only with the invention of firearms. It's a common mistake in bow / arrow type situations. (Extended version only).

Visible crew/equipment: In addition to the gas cylinder mistake, you can also see the handbutton the rider of the chariot uses to cause the explosion attached to the chariot as he drops it.

Revealing: At several points in the movie you will see speeches to a large crowd. These take place at the Piazza di San Marco. This square however is late Renaissance. Connected with this is the columns you see in these scenes. They were designed by the Italian artist Bernini! And the film crew didn't even remove the statues of all the popes!

Continuity: When Maximus slices the head off of his opponent, and delivers his line "Are you not entertained?" his sword begins in his left hand then it cuts to a wide shot, and it's in his right, then they cut back to a closer shot and it's back in his left hand again.

Factual error: The opening battle is wildly inaccurate. The Roman legions were trained to fight as a regimented force, and to maintain formation for mutual support. In the film, the formation collapses instantly upon contact with the enemy; in addition to being inaccurate, this would have almost certainly led to a Roman defeat, as, on a solo basis, the barbarians were by far the better warriors. Further, the Roman legions used spears called pila. Doctrine called for them to be thrown while the enemy closed. The Romans would then draw their swords and fight, while remaining in formation. Though the Romans are shown holding their pila in the opening scenes, they are never used against the barbarians, and we see no pila-riddled shields and/or corpses in the background.

Continuity: In the fight scene where Maximus fights alone in Morocco, watch where he punches a gladiator, slices open his belly then spins around and stabs him. Watch once he has spun around; there is no cut on the man's belly.

Continuity: Maximus is about to be executed in the forest in Germania. Maximus kneels on the floor. The swordsman steps behind him and lifts the sword above his head to drive it down into the back of the neck of Maximus. When Maximus stands up and head-butts the swordsman the swordsman's arms are now by his side and the sword gone. The next shot shows the arms back in the air, with the sword, and Maximus grabbing the sword.

Continuity: During the fight with the gladiators in the chariots, Maximus jumps on a horse and chops off a gladiator's head. Now you can clearly see the blood on the blade. But when the fight is over before he salutes the crowd, you can see the blade is clean.

Revealing: As the last man is killed during the Battle of Carthage, you can see that he actually doesn't get stabbed. The sword hits the ground beside him.

Revealing: As Tigris lays injured on the floor of the Collosseum, there are several close-ups of Maximus holding the axe above his head, with light streaming in around him. There are two things wrong with this; First of all, the camera angle is nowhere near steep enough to see the top of the Collesseum, therefore no light rays. Secondly, the top of the set can actually be seen between the light rays, as the canvas shades are too short and wide to be those seen in the CG wide-shots. Use the DVD "Making Of" as reference.

Continuity: When Maximus stabs the last gladiator during his solo match, as he stabs him with his last sword you see him using his left arm while holding his right arm behind him. When it cuts he is suddenly holding the sword with his right arm instead.

Revealing: After Maximus is dead, if you look at his neck, you can see his pulse.

Revealing: When Maximus charges his cavalry against the Germanians in the first battle, he decapitates a Germanian standing in front of a tree. In the side-on shot of this, the Germanian is obviously a mannequin, as when the head comes off, so does the wig on top of it.

Factual error: Architectural elements were from several centuries later. Note the balustrades, bell towers and domes in the Rome skyline shot and, more than anything else, Maximus' house, a typical 15th century Chianti villa.

Revealing: After the first gladiator fight when Maximus and Juba has finished off the last gladiator, it cuts to a wide shot of the arena. The camera moves to the left, if you look at the back row you can see two men with modern day t-shirts talking.

Factual error: While in his tent, Marcus Aurelius shows Maximus a sword with the inscription "MARCUS AURELIUS FECIT" (Marcus Aurelius made [this]). The Roman alphabet did not include the letter U until the Middle Ages; V was used instead. Thus, the inscription should have read "MARCVS AVRELIVS FECIT".

Visible crew/equipment: In the first battle in the Colosseum, right before the female gladiator get chopped in half by the chariot, you can see someone in a black outfit wearing what looks like safety or hiking boots driving the chariot.

Continuity: When Maximus grabs some earth before the final fight, you can see blood from the wound already trickle through his shirt, but when he picks up the sword it is magically gone.

Revealing: In the scene where the Praetorians attacks the gladiator's quarters and the gladiators are forced to fight in order to hide Maximus' escape, Hagen is shot full of arrows. Note the blocky silhouette of his torso area? What kind of padding is he wearing under that canvas jerkin?

Continuity: During the scene in which Maximus battles one-on-one with Tigris of Gaul (the gladiator that returned from retirement) in the Coliseum, Maximus is ordered to kill the Tigris. As he refuses and throws the axe down, the left side of Maximus' neck is completely covered with blood. When Commodus enters to speak with Maximus, there is only the slightest trace of blood on his neck, which now also seems to be completely dry.

Deliberate "mistake": The historically inaccurate portrayal of stirrups in the film was actually due to the stuntmen enacting the cavalry charge in the initial battle scene. Apparently the stuntmen refused to ride the horses over the forest terrain at full gallop without stirrups because it was far too dangerous for both horse and rider. (Galloping a horse through forest or any uneven terrain is incredibly dangerous.) Stirrups were granted as a concession to the stuntmen on the grounds of saftey. Since they were included in this scene, the film makers decided to allow them in all other scenes where necessary. (Only seven stuntmen were used in the filming of these scenes - all the other riders are just CGI copies.)

Revealing: When the chariot crashes in to the gladiators, we can see the shield in which the chariot crashes in to. It's not shaped like the other shields which are shaped in a perfect bow. This shield is rectangular shaped most likely to balance better on what ever is supporting it when the chariot runs over it making the chariot tip over.

Deliberate "mistake": In the beginning of the movie, where the Roman army is assembled waiting for the enemy to come into the open, the Germans in the woods are chanting menacingly. The chant they repeat sounds something like "Boom whattey. HEEYUH!" This soundbyte is cut-and-pasted from the movie Zulu, it is the battle cry the Zulu warriors make as they advance on the British outpost. They didn't just have new actors record the chant, they used the exact same soundbyte. You can even hear at intervals of every seven or eight chants they end by crying "ZULU!"

Continuity: At the end of the first battle in the Colosseum, Maximus puts his sword up to the crowd. There is blood at the tip of the sword, but in the following shot, it has vanished.

Continuity: When Maximus is talking to Marcus Aerelius, he mentions that his wife has black hair. But in the scenes where we see her, she actually has brown hair.

Continuity: When Commodus is choking Aurelius we see Aurelius placing his hands on Commodus' shoulders. When it cuts back to a frontal shot of Commodus the hands are gone.

Factual error: When the Romans fight in Germania, the forest is made up largely of European black pines (Pinus nigra). However the woods there and then should have been mostly beeches (Fagus sylvatica).

Continuity: During the battle of Carthage, Maximus rides past another man standing on the ground and throws a spear into his chest. The man clutches the spear with his right hand as he falls backwards, but when it cuts to him hitting the ground both his hands are out to the side and the spear has suddenly disappeared.

Revealing: In the "Battle of Cartage" when the first of the chariots is turned over, right after Maximus is saying "Hold, hold...down low, down low," there is a series of shots to the crowd, there is a bearded man celebrating with both arms, and deep to his right (left on the screen) there's another man, wearing some kind of clothes with stripes black and white. Behind him, there is an old man who appears very briefly, and he's wearing glasses.

Continuity: During the "Battle Of Carthage" fight in the arena when Maximum gallops past Juba on horseback, Juba shouts "Maximus!" and throws him a sword which Maximus goes to catch. But if you watch closely right at the end of the shot you can see Maximus' hand fumbles and doesn't actually manage to catch the sword - yet in the following shots he is still riding around the area, wielding the sword.

Factual error: In the arena, Maximus tells Commodus and the Roman spectators that he is "general of the Felix legions." The problem is, there was just one Felix legion, namely Legio IV Flavia Felix.

Continuity: During the first gladiator fight in the Colosseum, Maximus picks up the arrow from the ground. His hand is covered in blood, but in the second camera shot, no blood at all, and then in the third shot, you can see the blood again.

Factual error: Women were not allowed to be mixed with men. Only Vestales could stay where men were. Women could see the games just from the last ring-level of the Colosseum.

Continuity: When the two guys in white are having a drink outside of Rome, the guy with the white beard looks outside, and he has his hand on his chin, yet in the following shot it's nowhere near his chin.

Revealing: When Proximo is having his speech for the slaves as he says "And as your mothers were there at your beginning" there is a shot of a man throwing a spear at another man. Look at the spear as it flies through the air. It wiggles as if it is attached to a wire.

Continuity: When Lucilla says "Did you know, I still remember you in my prayers?" she looks up at Maximus with a serious face. When it cuts she is smiling.

Factual error: The snake with red-yellow-brown skin you see in a night-shot in Rome is a Pueblan Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum campbelli) from Mexico, also found in southern Texas. Not quite right for Rome...

Audio problem: When Proximo has lined up his slaves and says "And when you die, and die you shall. Your transition shall be to the sound of..." then he starts clapping. We hear the clapping and it cuts to Proximo clapping once then stops, but we can still hear one extra clap.

Continuity: At the beginning when Maximus is walking past the rows of soldiers look closely and you can see some of the same soldiers twice.

Visible crew/equipment: As the firesquad release their arrows at the two prisoners the protective pads under their shirts are quite visible. (Extended version only).

Continuity: When Commodus goes to see his father thinking his father would pass his powers onto him, if you look closely when he enters, there's a white sheet blowing rather vigorously in front of the camera. When it cuts to a shot of Commodus, the sheet now is hardly blowing at all.

Continuity: When Lucilla is making tonic for Commodus there is a close-up of her hand mixing the tonic. We can see on the table there is nothing near the glass except for a purple bottle which is probably 5 centimeters from the glass. When it cuts and she puts away the spoon she tips something over on the table right next to the glass. However it can't be the purple bottle because it would have to be closer to the glass in order for Lucilla to hit it.

Deliberate "mistake": When the chariot crashes through the gate we see explosion coming from both sides of the gate. However there is no reasonable explanation why there would be an explosion, so this was probably done to make the scene look more dramatic.

Continuity: In the scene where Hagen is faking a choke you see Juba holding his bowl of food with both hands. When it cuts back he is holding it in his left hand only.

Factual error: Watch in the "Battle of Carthage" when Maximus rides past a chariot and whacks a female gladiator riding on it in the face with his sword. She lifts her head back up. Apart from the fact it should have smashed her face in it also should of killed her.

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene on the DVD where Maximus' son is lunging his horse, just before he gets killed, the camera pans to show a view of the house in the background. On the right side of the house you can see two aerial power cables between the trees. You need a good resolution screen to pick it out: it's visible on my computer monitor but not on my television.

Continuity: Before Lucilla gets to Commodus who asks her if she knows if Gracchus has a new lover suspecting her to be his new lover, she walks by two servants. The servant on the left is looking down with his head bowed. When it cuts he is suddenly standing up straight looking after Lucilla as she walks by. (Extended version only).

Continuity: When Commodus enters the chamber where he walks towards his father's statue, he has his hands hanging down. When it cuts his hands are folded. (Extended Version only).

Visible crew/equipment: When Commodus says "The greatness of Rome. and what is that?", as Lucilla answers "It's an idea", it cuts to her walking. As she walks, look behind Commodus' throne above the arm rest, you should be able to see a yellow cord hidden behind a monument.

Continuity: When Commodus is holding Aurelius and says "Father.", he is holding Aurelius by the top of his head. When it cuts to a close-up of Aurelius looking up at Commodus, right before Commodus kills him, we see Commodus holding his chin instead of his head.

Continuity: When we get to the comedy play fight between Maximus and Commodus, we look at the front of the stage and we see the actor playing Maximus is standing in the middle of the stage and the one playing Commodus on the right side. When we get a view from back of the stage 'Maximus' is standing on the left side of the stage and 'Commodus' in the middle. They have suddenly switched sides.

Other: In the shot after the Germanian leader get stabbed to death there is a Roman soldier and his horse falling to the ground. Look at the soldiers around him. They are moving like they are in fast forward.

Audio problem: When Maximus is eating with Juba and Haken, just before he fights Tigris of Gaul, listen to the background noise very closely as the men talk. There's lots of chatter and stray noises, but amid the sounds you can hear someone yelling urgently: "Warren, Warren... Warren, ...radio." This may be the sounds of a crew member telling another regarding a radio.

Continuity: When Commodus tells his nephew Lucius about Roman history, the hairdo of Lucius changes a few times during the scene.

Continuity: After the battle with Tigris of Gaul, Maximus' neck was spread with tiger blood. But when he faced Commodus, no blood on his neck.

Continuity: When Aurelius gets on his horse and Maximus is helping him, you can see Aurelius' arms are under his cloak. When it cuts to Aurelius saying "So much for the glory of Rome" you can see his left arm is uncovered.

Revealing: After Hagen has been shot and stabbed, as he falls dying to the ground, the pad the arrows are attached to on his back is quite noticeable under his shirt.

Deliberate "mistake": When the firesquad has executed the two prisoners it cuts to a closeup of Lucilla. Later when it's time for Maximus to fight Commodus the exact closeup shot of Lucilla is being used over again. (Extended version only).

Continuity: In the wagon, when Commodus gets up and sits down beside Lucilla, the sunlight coming over his shoulder changes between the shots.

Continuity: In the middle, Commodus is sitting in a big chair and talking to Lucilla who is standing up. At the end of this scene, Commodus extends his right arm. In the following shot, the arm is a lot higher than the previous shot.

Continuity: When the soldiers take Maximus out into the woods to be executed, when Maximus says to the soldier "a soldiers death ", Maximus can be seen lowering his head, yet in the following shot, he is lowering his head again.

Factual error: Prior to the opening battle, Quintus says "The danger to the calvary." instead of "cavalry."

Continuity: During the battle of Carthage there is a scene where Juba jumps on to the back of a moving chariot. When it cuts the chariot is suddenly standing still, Juba is standing on the ground while his mates are grabbing the gladiator on the chariot.

Revealing: During the first gladiator battle there is a shot of Maximus stabbing another gladiator. When it cuts from behind that gladiator it is obvious that the sword is resting in his armpit before Maximus pulls it out. This happens a few shots after Hagen chops of his fellow gladiator's hand.

Continuity: When Maximus is finished praying for his son and his wife, he calls for Cicero. We then see Cicero walk in to Maximus from behind while holding a cloth in his right hand. When it cuts he is holding it in his left hand.

Continuity: When the chariot crashes through the gate we see the gates get busted in an exploding inferno. But when it cuts, the gates are intact again.

Continuity: When the chariot runs in through the gate we see the gate slightly open. When it cuts to the chariots hitting the chain and tipping over the gate is suddenly wide open. It could not have opened that fast.

Continuity: During the final scenes, when Maximus had died and his body is lying on the sand, we can see both the slaves and the Praetorians forming a semicircle around Maximus. When Quintus asks for help to carry Maximus body, during the second it takes long to raise it up (shot change), the slaves have moved and the Praetorians are forming a perfect honor corridor through which Maximus's body is about to go by.

Continuity: In the final fight scene between Commodus and Maximus when Commodus loses his sword and Maximus drops his, we see Lucilla stand up but when it goes back to Maximus she is sitting back down, this happens a lot during the close-ups in this scene.

Continuity: At the beginning of the film, when the Romans are about to fight the Germanians, a shot of some soldiers standing beside a war machine is shown. In the background, you can see that the fires for the archers are already lit. The next shot then show the same fires being lit and you can tell they are in the same place as the ones previously shown.

Revealing: When the Roman soldiers throws bowls of oil on the servants and set them on fire, the protective mask on the burning servant standing up is visible. (Extended version only).

Revealing: During the gladiator battle where Maximus is fighting gladiators alone, there is a particular shot with the gladiator he recently sliced up the stomach on. First Maximus hits him in the face, and you can see blood gutter up from the ground instead of from his face. Then when it cuts to Maximus stabbing him, blood gutter from behind Maximus, when in fact the gladiator is standing in front of him.

Continuity: When Commodus and Lucilla are talking while Commodus sits on his throne, the shots change from in front of Lucilla and behind her. When it's behind her it is the wind is blowing through her shawl. When it's in front of her it's not blowing.

Continuity: Watch as the Germanian leader gets killed. A soldier charges and stabs him on his left side. When it cuts the soldier charges and stabs him again.

Continuity: When Maximus is on a horse pursuing the chariot with the female gladiator throwing a spear at him and misses, we can see there is an extra spear standing on the chariot. Then Maximus throws his spear and when it cuts to the spear hitting the female gladiator the spear in the chariot is suddenly gone.

Continuity: In the battle scene between Maximus and Tigris, not only does the visor flip up and down (see above), but when Tigris falls down with his visor up, you can see that his face isn't marked. But when Maximus again unmasks Tigris, it's bloody with a giant scrape across the face.

Audio problem: When Commodus is talking with Lucilla before the Battle of Carthage as he is saying "I could announce the dissolution of the senate...". It cuts from behind him and he says "...are the people ready?", however his lips don't synch up with what he says.

Visible crew/equipment: As the scene is ending with Marcus in the dungeon chained after his recapture, the next scene starts with the crowd chanting his name. @ 2:15: 46 a man cheering in the crowd comes into view in the bottom right corner. He is wearing a olive green t shirt wearing a big radio headset.

Continuity: After Maximus's family is killed and he is being taken away, he has flashbacks, but one of the images is of him being chained up against the wall, right before his final battle with Commodus - a scene which hasn't even occurred yet.

Visible crew/equipment: During the Germanian battle, when Maximus falls off his horse you can see the ramp, on which the fake horse (yes it's fake, as shown in Special Features in the Extended 3 Disc Edition), is being pushed forward on and finally ejected off.

Continuity: When Commodus arrives and asks Aurelius if he has missed the fight, Aurelius' hair is blowing in the wind. When it cuts from behind Aurelius his hair is not moving.

Continuity: When Maximus has escaped being executed in the forest, he throws a sword into a soldier. Slow it down, the sword is actually already there in one shot, then it appears suddenly. Also the sword penetrates the left side of the body near the heart, yet when we see the soldier falling from the horse it's in the middle, then back to the left side.

Revealing: In the Moroccan prison the iron bars are electric arc welded. As a blacksmith, I can easily spot the visual differences between electric arc welding (a modern technique) and pierced bar joinery such as the Romans would have used.

Continuity: When Hagen is shot in his leg with an arrow he is holding the arrow in his leg. Maximus notices the chariot charging for Hagen and he shouts "Hagen". It cuts to Maximus running against Hagen, but now we can see that there is no arrow in Hagen's foot. When it cuts to Maximus reaching Hagen and pushing him away from the chariot the arrow is back in his leg.

Continuity: In the second battle scene where Maximus fights against six gladiators, he stabs one of them in the chest. Blood splatters everywhere and even all over Maximus' right arm. In the very next shot, his arm is miraculously clean.

Continuity: In one scene, where you see a view of the Colosseum and its flags, all the flags are pointing towards the middle and that's strange keeping in mind the wind comes from one direction.

Revealing: When Juba kills the gladiator lying on the ground during the Battle of Carthage with his helmet, we can actually see Juba hitting the ground beside the gladiator's head. Then we see blood splash up from the ground beside his head.

Factual error: As the Gladiators are being led into the Colosseum for the first time, an elephant is led across the background. Although the Romans used elephants in the arena, they used African elephants, and the one we see is an Asian elephant.

Continuity: During the first gladiator battle Maximus grabs another gladiator's sword by the blade. Two shots later he is holding the sword by its handle with no time to change grip.

Continuity: When Maximus comes back to his tent after seeing Aurelius dead he tells Cicero to wake Gaius and Falco. Then he says "Sword" and Cicero gives Maximus something and walks away as Maximus turns around. When it cuts Maximus turns around again.

Continuity: After Juba has thrown the sword to Maximus, Maximus tries to gather the gladiators by shouting "Single column, single column," then it cuts to him charging on his horse while holding his sword arm out. When it cuts from behind him he is holding his sword arm in front of him instead.

Continuity: At the Coliseum when the crowd is placing bets, you can see a man writing on a blackboard. He stops writing and turns around. When it cuts back to a closeup he turns around again.

Visible crew/equipment: After Maximus defeats Tigris of Gaul, there are Praetorians shown coming out of a gate on the left-hand side into the arena. In the next shot, you can see an open gate at the far end of the arena and you can see some kind of golf cart-like vehicle driving by on the outside of the Colosseum. It is very a motorized vehicle because there is no horse and it moves too smoothly.

Continuity: At one point during the first Germanian attack you see the Roman soldiers creating a line-up with shields, soon after followed by the Germanians running towards them off-hill (starting their attack). Clearly a few Germanian stopped fighting a little too early and you see them (left-side) turning and looking around.

Continuity: At the slave market when Proximo is checking Juba, he grabs Juba on his wrist above the lock. When it cuts he has grabbed him below the lock.

Continuity: Right before the attack on the Germanians when Maximus gets to his soldiers and shouts "Fratres.", you can see two soldiers walking right behind him. When it cuts to the soldiers shouting "Maximus.", the two soldiers behind him has suddenly disappeared.

Continuity: When Lucilla is talking with Gracchus and Gaius about Commodus and she says "He must die", we see Gracchus in the background looking at Lucilla. When it cuts he is looking down lifting his head to look at Lucilla. (Extended version only).

Continuity: In the middle of the film, just after the last gladiator match in the Roman province arena, Maximus goes to see Proximo. In one particular shot we see Proximo walk away and Maximus turn his whole body to face him, yet in the following shot, it is just his head that is turned.

Continuity: When Richard Harris is talking to his daughter about her future, the fire lamp behind them changes positions between shots.

Visible crew/equipment: When Maximus has killed the tiger you can see a whip hitting it as it lies on the its back. It probably belongs to the lion tamer who tries to make the tiger wriggle.

Continuity: When Aurelius says "Enough with politics. Let's pretend I'm a father." to Lucilla, she smiles and looks down. When it cuts she is still looking down, but in the next shot she is suddenly facing Aurelius again.

Continuity: When Commodus and Lucilla are lying in bed, after Commodus tries to seduce her for a kiss, he lowers his arm and says "You know I love you". When it cuts he suddenly has his hand lying on her shoulder.

Audio problem: Before the first battle in the Colosseum there is a speech about Hannibal by Cassius. He says "Ferocious mercenaries and warriors from all brute nations bent on merciless destruction conquest." As he says "Conquest" it cuts to a closeup of the gladiators. Look at the crowd in the background. They are getting up while cheering and clapping. However you can't hear anything else than the speech.

Factual error: There are several points in the film that show horses with saddles and stirrups. Pretty odd as the stirrup didn't arrive in Europe from China until the 3rd or 4th Century at the earliest.

Revealing: When Hagen pretends to choke on the beans, just after he finishes laughing, there is a shot of him sitting between Maximus and Juba. You can see his non-Roman underpants.

Revealing: When Maximus goes up against the 6 gladiators by himself, the fourth gladiator (carrying an axe and wearing a large helmet) he slashes across the right side right above the belt. You can tell the slash doesn't cut, but leaves a trail of blood and in the next shot the blood disappears entirely.

Continuity: When Commodus tells Aurelius he will sacrifice a hundred bulls to honor his triumph, the snowflakes on his head differ between the shots.

Continuity: When the gladiators have won inside the coliseum for their first battle, Commodus goes to see Maximus in the arena. In the previous shot, Maximus gets off of a white horse, yet in the following shot, the white horse is at the bottom of the screen with Maximus and the other gladiators some distance away.

Revealing: When Maximus is riding against the Germanians, as he meets the first Germanian, he hits the Germanian's spear and hits him with his sword. However, the hit isn't even close, but about 30 centimeter from the Germanian. This is even seen without slow motion.

Continuity: When Commodus screams "Am I not merciful?" in Lucilla's face, we see him holding Lucilla by her jaw bone. When it cuts his hand has moved to her chin.

Continuity: After Hagen has faked choking Juba start laughing. Then it cuts to Maximus slowly starting to laugh. In the next shot we can see both Hagen and Maximus laughing, but Juba is dead serious now. Then in the following shot behind Juba we can see him laughing again.

Continuity: When Maximus has killed the Praetorian and got wounded himself, we see him getting down on his knees and leading his right arm to the wound on his left arm. At this time we can see the sleeve on his right arm is by his elbow. When it cuts to a close-up of his hand we can see the sleeve is down by his wrist.

Audio problem: When they get in the gates at Proximo's after he has bought the slaves you hear him say, "I am Proximo" but his lips aren't moving when he says it.

Revealing: At the end, when Maximus had gone to afterlife world of Elysium and was meeting his wife and son, both the wife and the son put their hands up as to shield the sun from their eyes. You can clearly see that their hands are not blocking out the sun, because the shadows are not over the eyes.

Revealing: During the first battle the Romans had with the Germans, they show a scene in slow motion with very emotive music that shows the massacre in the forest. Look closely at all the Romans and you will see one fall to the ground, then, as if it was a rewind, come back up again - and then fall again.

Revealing: Watch closely during the first gladiator battle as the man who is caught in a net gets charged by a man with a spear and a man with a sword. First the man with the spear stabs him, but when the man with the sword stabs him you can actually see him holding the tip of the sword pointing to the side avoiding to hit him.

Continuity: When Maximus says "On my signal, unleash hell" he takes off with his horse. Then he rides through a stand with soldiers and the soldiers gets up on their feet. Then it cuts to a close-up of Maximus riding and as the camera zooms out the soldiers gets on their feet again.

Continuity: When the Germanian leader is stabbed the first time he holds his weapon with both hands. When it cuts it's only in his right hand.

Continuity: At the very start of the film when we see Maximus for the first time, he is talking to his friend Quintus. Two boys run past, yet when it cuts to another shot they have vanished. We should have been able to see them at least running off in the background somewhere.

Continuity: The first time Maximus is about to fight as a gladiator we see him grabbing some dirt in his right hand and pouring it into his left hand. When it cuts we can see both his hands covered in dirt before he start rubbing his hands, as if he already has rubbed his hands in a previous scene.

Continuity: Before they attack the Germanians, Maximus says "Strength and honor" to Quintus and he replies. Then Quintus says the same to another soldier who is facing him. When it cuts the soldier is suddenly walking away.

Continuity: When the Roman soldier shoots the signal arrow before the attack against the Germanians, you can see his bow twist at least 45 degrees between the shots.

Audio problem: When Commodus and Gracchus are having their little debate in front of the senate and Gracchus says "Then perhaps Caesar will be so good as to teach us, out of his own extensive experience.". Then it cuts to a wide shot of the senate, and you can hear them laugh. However, none of them are moving their mouths, nor seems amused in any way.

Revealing: In the "Battle of Carthage," towards the end just after the repeater crossbow has been fired, we see one of Maximus's fellow gladiators running towards one of the fallen chariot riders. You can clearly see the spike that he kills the chariot rider with moving as he runs, suggesting that it was made of a softer, safer material.

Revealing: In the beginning of the film at the major fight sequence. When you see the Romans shield themselves with the rectangular shields against the barbarian's arrows and then they charge at each other. If you look closely enough, you can see two Roman soldiers standing there having a great laugh, one pointing a sword smiling, and the other one staring at the ground laughing to his heart's delight.

Continuity: When Quintus tells the soldier to move the catapult he is standing right behind Maximus. When it cuts, he is further away from Maximus.

Continuity: During the first gladiator battle there is a shot of Hagen striking a man with an animal skull on his head. In the next shot sand is suddenly 'raining', from out of nowhere, all over Hagen.

Continuity: When Maximus chops the head off the German at the beginning of the movie, his sword is supposed to be stuck to the tree. However after he has chopped the head off you can for a second see the sword in his hand before we get to the shot where the sword is stuck to the tree.

Factual error: The last gladiator to be killed when Maximus is chained to Juba holds a trident. This kind of gladiator is called a "retiarius." They're also the ones who fight using nets. The shoulder armour was always worn on the left shoulder, not the right, because left-handedness was frowned upon in Ancient Rome.

Continuity: Just before the battle with against the Germanians begins, while the Germanians are taunting the Romans, there are many arrows in the trees and in the ground. Twice we see this. Problem is that the disciplined Romans had not fired a single arrow at that point and no skirmishers, which could have been authorized to shoot before the order to "loose" can be seen in the open area in front of the defensive position.

Continuity: After the Gladiators are victorious at the Battle of Carthage, Maximus reveals his identity to Commodus. The time seems to change from sunset to high noon a number of times. The crowd shots are at noon, the close ups are clearly made with the sun on one side of their faces.

Continuity: During the battle of Carthage, Hagen stands alone with an arrow in his shield, couple of scenes on, no arrow, couple of scenes on again, an arrow hits his shield.

Other: In the first battle scene against the Germanians, right after Maximus gets dismounted, he is lying on his back and an enemy soldier takes a swing at him with an axe. Maximus blocks it by holding the sword handle with his right hand and putting his left hand on the top of his sword blade. With the amount of force the axe came down with, blocking like that would surely cut off one's own hand.

Factual error: In the scene where Maximus is finding his wife and son's bodies there are two chickens to his left. One of these is definitely a Rhode Island Red hen. This breed of chicken was developed upwards of 1,700 years after Roman times in the US state of Rhode Island.

Continuity: At the end of the first battle inside the Colosseum, Commodus goes out to see Maximus, yet when he first enters the arena's floor, the distance from him to Maximus changes three times during shots. For example, when he first goes through the gate, it cuts to Maximus, then back to Commodus and he is just coming out the gate again, yet in the previous shot he came out the gate.

Continuity: When Maximus, Juba and the other slave are eating at a table, the big slave pretends he's choking. Juba has his hand on the spoon, yet when it cuts to the next shot, his hand is no longer there.

Continuity: When Maximus and the other gladiators are walking up to the Coliseum in Rome, the black guy walking with him is about 2 to 3 feet away from him. When the camera cuts to a face shot, they are shoulder to shoulder.

Revealing: When Maximus collapses after his fight with Comodus, slow the scene down. You can clearly see Maximus remembers that Lucilla has to kneel on his left side, and so quickly pulls his left arm in.

Revealing: When Lucilla takes her hand and closes Maximus's eyes after he dies you can clearly see him blink.

Continuity: When Proximo is talking with the slave dealer and he says "You sold me queer giraffes, I want my money back.", you see him holding a cup with his index finger pointing up. When he takes a sip from the cup his finger is down.

Continuity: When the Gladiators are fighting the Praetorians so Maximus can escape, they stab Hagen when he is on the ground. Notice that it is in a fast forward-like time. The Praetorians are moving really fast.

Continuity: After the final fight scene when Maximus is on the ground, Lucilla is kneeling above him. When her face is shown, it is blocking out the sun. And yet, when the shot shows Maximus's face, there is no shadow.

Continuity: In the beginning when Maximus says "Lean and hungry. Still nothing?" in which he gets the answer "Not a sign" from Quintus. Watch the soldier behind them handling the catapult. When it cuts that soldier is suddenly gone.

Continuity: In the final battle, there are about 20 or something Praetorians on the platform when it moves up. But when you see the platform coming up to the arena, there are suddenly enough to form the "tortoise" position; and then they have multiplied in order to arrange the circle around Commodus and Maximus (about 45 Praetorians).

Continuity: At the end of the battle with Tigris of Gaul, Maximus kills the tiger that leaps on top of him and throws it off to the side. In the next shot the tiger is back on top of him and he has to fight with it laying on his stomach. Later the tiger is once again off to the side.

Continuity: At the end of the movie when Maximus is lying dead, and Lucilla asks who will help carry his body. Her bracelet on her arm is positioned differently than right before she asks the question when she is looking around at the crowd.

Continuity: When Commodus is standing over his nephew Lucius, touching his face while he slept, his sister Lucilla enters the room and you hear only her footsteps, but he is then standing at the end of the bed out of reach of Lucius. He does not have time to make that move.

Continuity: When the emperor lies dead he is clearly still breathing.

Continuity: The weather during the battle against the Germanians changes almost every second: Hard snowfall, soft snowfall, almost sunshine, soft snowfall, etc.

Revealing: When Maximus is dying and entering Elysium, you can see that it's not Russell Crowe walking through the fields to his wife and son.  The stand-in's build and physique is totally different.

Factual error: When Maximus walks through the wheat field it is obvious (to a botanist) that the wheat shown is an octaploid variety which was developed in the 1950's for the Green Revolution. The type of wheat grown during Roman times can still be found in many areas too, so it's not like the filmmakers can find it.

Revealing: When Maximus quickly kills all his opponents, the third to last man he kills of the group of men, when he stabs him in the stomach, you can clearly see him "stab" to the side of his stomach. Even more visible when you slow it down.

Continuity: During Maximus's death scene at the end you can clearly see the entrance that Commodus and Maximus entered the arena through in the floor of the arena. After Juba is done burying the figures of Maximus's dead son and wife, you can not see the entrance anymore when he is walking away.

Revealing: After the first battle in the Colosseum (The Battle of Carthage), Commodus decides to meet "The Spaniard" in the arena. When Quintus (the head of the Praetorian Guard) is telling the slaves to drop their weapons, we can see one of the spectators hiding a plastic bottle of water (right upper corner of the screen).

Revealing: Near the end of the movie, when Commodus and Maximus are in close, struggling for the knife, take a good look at the knife. Both of the actors' hands are gripping it and it's clearly rubber because it's bent at a serious angle.

Continuity: Commodus and Maximus are on their way up from underneath the Colosseum, the ground is covered with red rose petals.  Once the guards have formed a square for the fight, there are no roses within the square.

Revealing: When Maximus is being taken to be executed he escapes - when he whacks the last man round the face look closely and you see he slashes about a foot away from the soldier's face.

Continuity: When Proximo is about to be killed and says "shadows and dust", the background scenery changes. It is obviously an alternate take from when he says the same thing before Maximus fights Tigris, used because of the death of Oliver Reed, but that doesn't make it any less a mistake.

Continuity: After Maximus comes out of the tunnel after leaving the gladiator quarters, he sees his friend Cicero. Maximus makes a bird noise to get his attention, Cicero sees him and in an attempt to warn him he yells "Maximus." He startles his horse which runs away but a noose is around his neck so he is pulled off the horse and left hanging there. As soon as the horse leaves him and he starts swinging his hands you can see they are not tied. Then when Maximus runs up to him and holds his feet up to try and save him his hands are tied up.

Factual error: During a meal in the gladiatorial school, Juba is shown eating with a metal spoon. Slave-gladiators almost certainly only ate with their fingers, wooden spoons, or wads of bread to sop up their food. They never would have access to metal spoons that could be sharpened and used to attack the guards keeping watch over them.

Continuity: In the beginning when Commodus and Lucilla are talking and Lucilla says "For now, the first thing I shall do is have a hot bath." you can see she has her hand on her chest. When it cuts Commodus is suddenly holding her hand.

Revealing: In the beginning during the war with the Germanians when Maximus falls off his horse you can see it's a stunt double.

Continuity: After the first battle when Maximus is washing his hands during the feast, you can see in the close-up of his hands that the wool sleeve on his left hand is thicker than in the other shots.