The Battle of Germania was cited by CNN as one of their "favorite on-screen battle scenes", while "Entertainment Weekly" named Maximus as their sixth favorite action hero, because of "Crowe's steely, soulful performance", and named it as their third favorite revenge film. In December 2000, "Gladiator" was named the best film of the year by viewers of "Film 2000", taking 40% of the votes. In 2002, a Channel 4 (UK TV) poll named it as the sixth greatest film of all time. "Entertainment Weekly" put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Are you not entertained?". Michael Wilmington of "The Chicago Tribune" gave praise to Scott's direction, comparing the visual style of the film to that of Scott's 1982 film "Blade Runner".