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Firmly positioned as one of my favourite films, Gladiator initiated an ultimately short-lived revival of the swords-and-sandals epic, which would come to an end with Ridley Scott's return to the genre, Kingdom of Heaven. There are various reasons why Gladiator works so well, all of which sound obvious on paper but rarely coalesce to form cinematic gold. The acting is stellar, Russell Crowe deservedly bagging a Best Actor Oscar, backed by numerous eyecatching supporting roles, including a superb Joacquin Phoenix as the cowardly, villainous Commodus, and Oliver Reed in his last role, whose performance was famously completed with the help of some computer effects wizardry (he died before filming all of his scenes). Director Scott, as usual, provides awe-inspiring visuals, and Hans Zimmer composed his best score to date to accompany them (in collaboration with Lisa Gerrard and owing a certain debt to Mars from Holst's The Planets suite). The story is relatively simple, but it works. Fundamentally it is a revenge story about a man whose family are murdered, which is not a hugely original angle, but it enables the audience to fully identify with the main character and provides the story with enormous emotional weight, especially at its ending. Interestingly, the original script did not include the revenge theme and was simply a story about a man who wanted to return home, which sounds rather undramatic. It is probably the revenge premise more than anything else that makes the narrative so compulsive, so this proved to be a crucial alteration. It is easy to forget that Gladiator was such a commercial risk by the studio financing it, as it was the first Hollywood Roman epic for over 35 years. The gamble paid off handsomely, though, as the film reaped not only considerable box office returns but also numerous awards, including Best Film at the Oscars - a rare accomplishment for a summer blockbuster.
The extended version on this DVD is not a great deal different from the theatrical cut, simply including all of the deleted scenes from the older 2-disc DVD cut into the film. Ridley Scott explains in an introduction that this is not a director's cut, as he was happy with the theatrical version. All of the newly added material is interesting, however, particularly the parts which give greater detail to the political scheming behind the back of Emperor Commodus. The new scenes are not really necessary, but I do like the added texture and richness they bring to the film.
The extras
There may have been 4-disc special editions of other films, but in those instances the films have always been spread over two discs, leaving two more for the extras. In Gladiator's case the film is short enough (even in its extended form) to fit on one DVD, so the fact that this set is "only" 3 discs does not actually mean that you get less in the way of special features than some larger sets. In fact, the extras in this DVD are absolutely exceptional. Firstly there is a commentary by Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe on the first disc. Disc 2 is where the real meat is, containing an over-three-hour documentary split into seven parts, which is utterly comprehensive and pretty much as enthralling to watch as the film. An interesting little nugget is that in one of the myriad interviews, David Franzoni, the script's first writer, seems upset at how much the script changed from its first incarnation (he went on to have sole screenwriting credit on King Arthur, which revived his beloved 'returning home' theme, and was a complete dud). One of the more fascinating segments is the one about how they used CGI to finish Oliver Reed's scenes, because, try as I might, I couldn't spot where it was implemented. There is also an easter egg to be found on the disc that discusses the possibility of a sequel, which thankfully looks unlikely, as I find it hard to see how a follow-up could replicate this film's success. Disc 3 contains largely technical stuff like storyboard galleries and production photographs, which are admittedly less interesting than the documentary but still welcome.
The summary
Gladiator is a high point in both Ridley Scott's and Russell Crowe's careers (both of whom have had considerable success with other films), and is one of the very best films of the decade so far. What's more, the excellent DVD set does the film justice. A modern classic.
