Gladiator's success could not have been achieved without the use of CGI technology. Computer-generated imagery was not super advanced in 2000, yet Gladiator was able to use it in subtle ways to give a more immersive feeling to the film. Even though by today's standards the CGI is not top shelf, it was more than enough to fool the untrained eye of movie goers in the year 2000. That being said, there are a few scenes within the film that may be comparable to the quality of recent movies. Without a doubt the bold move paid off in the long run considering some people would say Gladiator is one of the greatest film of all time. At this point in time it is hard to argue with such a statement given how it has held up over time.

If Gladiator had not used CGI to recreate the ancient city streets of Rome, the Colosseum, and even actor Oliver Reed, it surely would not have been nearly as groundbreaking. Every old epic movie from the early twentieth century used massive sets and a small army of extras in attempt to recreate what some great ancient civilization may have been like. The issue with building such intricate and vast sets is the time and cost. To build these you need a location or locations, laborers, and few prayers in hopes that you do not have to start over from scratch. Gladiator avoided all of these potential mishaps by implementing CGI. By using CGI Ridley Scott can recreate ancient Rome however he wants, which is exactly what he does as seen in the movie's first glimpse of the immense city.  Ridley Scott creates a Rome with the same cold and dark feeling we get on the battlefield in the opening scenes. This was done to show Rome as not the magnificent wonder Maximus believes he has always been serving. This could have possibly been done using a small model of the city with some a special filter, but it would not as versatile. CGI allows recreate ancient Rome in any weather, lighter, or color gradient a director desires.

 The CGI moment with the ability to rival modern technology is that of the recreation of actor Oliver Reed. Oliver Reed played Proximo in the film, but unfortunately he faced a sudden and unexpected death before shooting had been finished. Since some scenes still required his presence, CGI was used to bring this actor back to life on screen. They pulled this off by partially using his voice and body movements in previous scenes. They took previous scenes they had already filmed, some body doubles and a little script rewriting to make it all come together. The end result is a Proximo that looks completely human. The excellent work done here is quite difficult to tell apart from the real actor and makes people question if it actually is CGI. Without CGI the special effects team may not have been able to bring him back so easily. Another option would have been to use makeup, but actually placing his face on another person becomes a question of ethicality. Since doing that absolutely would have been morally wrong, the decision to implement CGI was a good one.