HUGE

How could I give it any other rating? It was an epic! I don't mean a four-hour Kevin Costner snorefest, I mean a real, old-fashioned, Hollywood epic! A story of struggle and vengeance set in ancient Rome complete with lavish visuals, romance, and extreme violence. (Beware the violence o ye squeamish!) Ignore the historical fallacies and enjoy a great film about men doing what we wish we could do best.

The acting is good all around. Nothing truly breathtaking, but frankly such a performance might've distracted you from the plot. The visuals are truly stunning. The story is great. WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED TO HEAR!?! Not many films can tell Braveheart to sit-down and shut-up, but this might be one of them. By the way, I wish Derek Jacobi was my daddy. That's how much I love'em. I'm glad to see him working in American films.

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Yes, he was: Gladiator
by Christian De Matteo

Super

Thanks to Kevin Costner, the idea of an epic on film is somewhat terrifying to most moviegoers. While Braveheart is just that and is one of the greatest films ever, Costner’s attempts since Dances With Wolves have scarred us. When we hear epic film, we must usually pause a moment to wonder for whose ego will we be cursing the screen for three or four hours this time.

But Gladiator saves us from that. Legendary director Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Alien and brother of director Tony Scott) makes a smart move by picking up-and-comer Russell Crowe (LA Confidential, Romper Stomper) to play the lead instead of any of the bloated, Hollywood superpowers out there (like Costner… imagine Costner as Maximus, terrifying, eh?). Crowe does a fantastic job as a great general betrayed and sold into the world of human death as entertainment.

With a powerful screenplay and an excellent soundtrack, the viewer slips into the story and moves right along with Maximus (Crowe) as tries to take control of his fate. Joaquin Phoenix (Quills) moves the story along perfectly as well by bringing us a loathed villain who’s very complex, scary on many levels, and deeply troubled. No great hero can be truly great without a conversely great villain and Phoenix achieves just that level.

Oliver Reed, in his last role, is fantastic. Many of the scenes with him are the most striking of the film. The young boy, Spencer Treat Clark (Unbreakable) is also excellent. He has a bright future ahead of him.

On top of that, Scott gives us Rome. Rome is recreated before us perfectly thanks to the level of evolution movie magic has risen to. Having been to the ruins of the Coliseum in Rome, Italy (as opposed to the coliseums in Rome, Florida or New York), I watched in amazement at the perfection Scott’s team reached in recreating it as well as all the architecture and spectacles around it. The movie is impressive on every level.

Gladiator also does something else that all great films do, and that’s make you think. Scott disgusts us with the idea of people going to watch human beings be murdered for sport and then reminds us of the greatness of the Roman Empire, in power but also culture. How could such barbarism come from a civilization so advanced? We the viewers tend to cast judgements on the people, considering them barbaric and disgusting, but halfway through the movie one finds himself wondering if such games wouldn’t be a hit today. Think of the Wrestling phenomena we are currently in. How far off is that from the gladiator games, short of the actual death? Humanity has not lost its most primitive bloodlust, and that makes the film even more important on a cautionary level. “You’re an entertainer,” Oliver Reed tells Crowe, “Win the crowd and you’ll win your freedom.” He is an entertainer, and you the viewer are entertained by his “feats” in the arena, and his actions will win you. But which actions are the ones that win you? His courage in standing up to an emperor, or his prowess in coliseum?

So, the questions begs be asked, Why not a HUGE rating? The first hour. It’s not at all bad, far from it, but on a second watching, many parts feel solely like setup. Now that I have the knowledge I need to watch the movie, parts don’t seem necessary anymore beyond introductory information. I wonder if a bit of it could have been cut out or sped up. Please understand, the first hour is very enjoyable, just not as enjoyable as the hour and a half that follows it.

The second reason not to give it a HUGE would be the same technology I just praised. Several scenes seem like the crew was trying a bit too hard with the computers. In the Battle of Carthage sequence the blood looks very computer generated and the opening battle scene could have been clearer if they hadn’t gone so nuts with the special effects.

But these “complaints” are just to explain why it didn’t get the highest possible rating from me. For me, Braveheart is worthy of a HUGE, and you should know that Gladiator is not quiet at the level of Braveheart, but does certainly come close. I loved Gladiator, enough that I pre-ordered the DVD and watched it as soon as I got it. I do believe it was one of the best movies of 2000. It’s fun and important all at once, and the acting is excellent. Oliver Reed died while making this movie, and it’s one worthy to have ended his career on.

So watch, enjoy, and when the movie ends, ask yourself, “Are you not entertained?”

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Ben-Here (And It’s Still Cool): Gladiator
by Michael Flanagan

Super

Before dismissing Gladiator, I highly advise watching it in several different formats. As it is an epic, the film should be seen on the big screen. Rarely is such cinematic beauty displayed in such a grandiose way that it needs to be seen in it’s full splendor. Gladiator is about the Roman Empire, and the Roman Empire was big. So is this movie.

Gladiator features the titled bloodsport, as well as love lost, political intrigue, revenge, and redemption. All this and ancient Rome, too. Such film-qualities may look very familiar; this film does not shy away from bringing to mind Spartacus, or Ben-Hur, or even the lavish Cleopatra. These movies are classics, and they’re great for that reason. I recently watched a PBS airing of Spartacus, and for the first time saw the movie in its full letterboxed glory. What a movie! I have seen it before, and I was mainly bored, but add in its widescreen format and you have even more of the elements. It’s not just about seeing more of the movie, it’s about adding to it. I wish I could have seen these classics on the widescreen (a size closer to the IMAX of today), and in a way, I have. Gladiator brings back these classics, and it does it well.

The second viewing format I would recommend is the 2-disc set DVD. When I first saw the movie I thought it was good. I enjoyed it, but that was about it. After viewing the film and the features of the DVD, I now love it. Ridley Scott and team’s commentary is wonderfully insightful, not just to the film, but to the history as well. These are intelligent men talking about an intelligent movie. Hans Zimmer provides some rarely-heard descriptions about creating a score and bringing a movie to life through music. And some deleted scenes left me, as long as the film was, wanting to see them in the movie. The DVD allows the next best thing.

Just as Gladiator is the next best thing to a classic. And Russell Crowe’s no Charleton Heston. He’s better.

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Trivia

And now, a nugget of joy from Mark:

Okay, so he says "Unleash Hell" and Romans didn't believe in Hell at the time. So the clothes they wore and the stirrups they used wouldn't be introduced for another few hundred years. So the film suggests that Marcus Aurelius had made the gladiator fights come to an end for ethical reasons when in fact they were regarded as religious ceremonies that were good for people. So Commodus and Marcus Aurelius didn't really die like that. It was a great movie! Let it go!

Seriously, I am a student of history who is opposed to "Hollywood's History" and the "Dineyfication" of History, but this particular movie I could forgive. It was that good. If you want to know the truth, don't look to Hollywood, all they want is to entertain. This time, they did a good job of that.

Here's one for the trained eye: When the two armies run into each other in the opening battle, one of the Roman legionnaires in the center of the screen is clearly laughing and not fighting. What's his story?

Assorted Trivia:

Oliver Reed died from a fatal heart attack during filming. Some of his sequences had to be re-edited and a body double, photographed in the shadows with a 3D CGI mask of Reed's face, was used as a stand-in. This is similar to the technology and tricks used in The Crow after Brandon Lee died.

In the Colosseum scenes, only the bottom two decks are actually filled with people. The other thousands of people are computer-animated. Quite well I might add.

The real Emporer Commodus was in fact the only Roman Emperor in history to fight as a gladiator in the arena. He did it several times and was not killed in the arena; he was strangled in his dressing room by an athelete named Narcissus.

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