Really wanted to like this, and there are some good elements, but its cliched in so many areas and even so, the screenplay is a mess. It's a shame really because I actually thought the three main actors — Kit Harrington, Emily Browning and, especially, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (who could've had a movie of his own) — were quite good and deserved a better script. The oddball part of the movie was how someone thought casting Kiefer Sutherland as a Roman senator was a good idea followed by Sutherland's performance which, while fun, was really goofy and took away from any seriousness the movie had going for it, which admittedly wasn't a whole lot, but he didn't help matters.
Another plus is the score, yeah the vocals are over-the-top but I liked it and even went and bought it for my iPod.
So typical of Paul W.S. Anderson taking something that could've been a fun and thoroughly enjoyable action-adventure and make it oh so mediocre.
**½/*****, (C, 5.2/10, 2/4)