Scott's historical drama Gladiator (2000) proved to be one of his biggest critical and commercial successes.
It won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor for the film's star Russell Crowe, and saw Scott nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director.
Scott worked with British visual effects company The Mill for the film's computer-generated imagery, and the film was dedicated to Oliver Reed who died during filming – The Mill created a digital body double for Reed's remaining scenes.
Some have credited Gladiator  with reviving the nearly defunct "sword and sandal" historical genre.
The film was named the fifth best action film of all time in the ABC special Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time.

Scott directed Hannibal (2001) starring Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter.
The film was commercially successful despite receiving mixed reviews.
Scott's next film, Black Hawk Down (2001), featuring Tom Hardy in his film debut, was based on a group of stranded US soldiers fighting for their lives in Somalia; Scott was nominated for an Oscar for Best Director.
In 2003, Scott directed a smaller scale project, Matchstick Men, adapted from the novel by Eric Garcia and starring Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell and Alison Lohman.
It received mostly positive reviews, but performed moderately at the box office.

In 2005, he made the modestly successful Kingdom of Heaven, a film about the Crusades.
The film starred Orlando Bloom, and marked Scott's first collaboration with the composer Harry Gregson-Williams.
The Moroccan government sent the Moroccan cavalry as extras for some battle scenes.
Unhappy with the theatrical version of Kingdom of Heaven (which he blamed on paying too much attention to the opinions of preview audiences in addition to relenting when Fox wanted 45 minutes shaved off), Scott supervised a director's cut of the film, the true version of what he wanted, which was released on DVD in 2006.
The director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven has been met with critical acclaim, with Empire magazine calling the film an "epic", adding: "The added 45 minutes in the director’s cut are like pieces missing from a beautiful but incomplete puzzle." "
This is the one that should have gone out" reflected Scott.
Asked if he was against previewing in general in 2006, Scott stated: "It depends who's in the driving seat.
If you've got a lunatic doing my job, then you need to preview.
But a good director should be experienced enough to judge what he thinks is the correct version to go out into the cinema."
Scott's historical drama Gladiator (2000) proved to be one of his biggest critical and commercial successes. It won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor for the film's star Russell Crowe, and saw Scott nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. Scott worked with British visual effects company The Mill for the film's computer-generated imagery, and the film was dedicated to Oliver Reed who died during filming – The Mill created a digital body double for Reed's remaining scenes. Some have credited Gladiator  with reviving the nearly defunct "sword and sandal" historical genre. The film was named the fifth best action film of all time in the ABC special Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time.
Scott directed Hannibal (2001) starring Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. The film was commercially successful despite receiving mixed reviews. Scott's next film, Black Hawk Down (2001), featuring Tom Hardy in his film debut, was based on a group of stranded US soldiers fighting for their lives in Somalia; Scott was nominated for an Oscar for Best Director. In 2003, Scott directed a smaller scale project, Matchstick Men, adapted from the novel by Eric Garcia and starring Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell and Alison Lohman. It received mostly positive reviews, but performed moderately at the box office.
In 2005, he made the modestly successful Kingdom of Heaven, a film about the Crusades. The film starred Orlando Bloom, and marked Scott's first collaboration with the composer Harry Gregson-Williams. The Moroccan government sent the Moroccan cavalry as extras for some battle scenes. Unhappy with the theatrical version of Kingdom of Heaven (which he blamed on paying too much attention to the opinions of preview audiences in addition to relenting when Fox wanted 45 minutes shaved off), Scott supervised a director's cut of the film, the true version of what he wanted, which was released on DVD in 2006. The director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven has been met with critical acclaim, with Empire magazine calling the film an "epic", adding: "The added 45 minutes in the director’s cut are like pieces missing from a beautiful but incomplete puzzle." "This is the one that should have gone out" reflected Scott. Asked if he was against previewing in general in 2006, Scott stated: "It depends who's in the driving seat. If you've got a lunatic doing my job, then you need to preview. But a good director should be experienced enough to judge what he thinks is the correct version to go out into the cinema."
Ridley Scott