Gladiator
Director: Ridley Scott
Screenplay: David H. Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson
Starring: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, Ralf Moeller and Spencer Treat Clark
John's Review
��� The wannabe epic blockbuster returns. Ridley Scott and his dramatic tale of courage and revenge, GLADIATOR - "the general who became a slave, the slave who became a gladiator, the gladiator who defied an emperor" is not all it's cracked up to be.
��� Maximus (Crowe), once a great roman General, and practically adopted son of Marcus Aurelius Caesar (Harris), is our hero. After the death of Marcus, Maximus is forced into exile by a jealous Commodus (Phoenix), heir to the throne. Maximus is then saved from death by slavers after seeing that his family has been slaughtered. He is purchased by Proximo (Reed) to be used as a gladiator and ends up in the arena of all arena's, the Coliseum.
��� It's common for historical dramas to take liberties with the facts for dramatic effect. However, this film takes several. I'm sure it does not come as a surprise to you that no Caesar was ever killed in the Coliseum as a part of a Gladiatorial duel. Although the language spoken was English and the accents varied from a poorly done British (Phoenix) to Australian (Crowe) to thick German (Moeller) it wasn't as big a problem to suspend disbelief as some critics have stated. (Especially since Crowe's Maximus was supposed to be Spanish).
��� The acting in the film was not something to write home about. I have read several people actually enjoyed Phoenix's performance. I'm not sure what movie they were watching, but in my opinion it was the weakest of the bunch. Crowe was absolutely charismatic. His role was well played and was the primary reason to watch this film. Nielsen was just as good as Caesar's daughter, Lucilla.
��� The visuals tried to be panoramic at times, duplicating the sweeping shots of Dances With Wolves, these shots were fine. It was the battle scenes that I had problems with. The battle scenes themselves looked as though they were choreographed pretty well, but they seemed to be done in a jerky style that gave the effect of something like 6 frames per second. This, combined with very hectic cutting and editing, made these scenes somewhat headache inducing. If Scott had kept with the idea of making the scenes more like Gibson had done in Braveheart I think it would have accomplished more.
��� The score was surprisingly bland and uninvolving, which is somewhat dissapointing considering it was done by Hans Zimmer (with help from Klaus Badelt and Lisa Gerrard). I want music that is sweeping and emotional in an epic like this. To understand what I mean, watch the afore mentioned films, where both soundtracks are absolutely fantastic.
��� Although the plot was simple and easy to understand I didn't understand the idea of the subplot. In this we had Commodus and his incestual love for his sister, Lucilla. The film has a running time of 2:30. About 30 to 40 minutes is taken up with this subplot, which does nothing for the story. It doesn't drive it and in the end doesn't resolve or explain anything. There are certain parts of the film that don't make sense, for example, Commodus is speaking to one of his Senators. His Senator explains to him that he has heard of this snake, "that lures it's prey by lying on the bottom of the water, unmoving. When the prey approaches it does nothing. As the prey starts to nibble it still does nothing." "That's what I shall do," answers Commodus, "I shall let my enemies nibble." The very next scene is Maximus trying to escape from his Gladiatorial holding. After that we have Commodus and Maximus dueling in the center of the Coliseum. Hunh? Where's this "nibbling"?
��� Gladiator is solid entertainment. It could have been more, but it's not. In my opinion this is not the best genre for Scott. At times this film is visually stunning and action packed. At other times, it's annoying and then boring. It's not for everyone, but if you are looking for an epic battle between good and evil then this may be your cup of tea. If not, go rent Excalibur or Braveheart.
Grade: C+
