GLADIATOR R
Starring Russell Crowe, Connie Nielsen, Joachin Phoenix, and Djimon Hounsou
Eric says: IX (9)
We get to harken back to those Techni-Colour days of old. I can almost smell Victor Mature. Yes, the effects have been computerized, and lots more violence is now acceptable, but the story stays the same. Even the color seems to have been bleached and bled to match the quality from the 1950s.
Russell Crowe is Maximus, a Spanish general in the Roman Empire's army whose many battlefield victories and good character have made him the Emperor's choice to succeed him instead of his petulant son, Commodus. When son gets hold of this information, he kills dear old dad and takes the Empire himself. He condemns Maximus to death and starts to the business of trying to entice his sister into a little incestuous tryst. This being a Russell Crowe film, though, Maximus escapes death and finally falls into a "job" as a slave-gladiator. About this same time, Commodus decides that fights to the death would be good to distract the Romans from their troubles, and brings gladiator competitions - tigers and all - back to the Colisseum. This naturally sets up The Confrontation.
What sets this apart from the average action/drama is the setting. I have heard some disparaging remarks about the cloudy special effects, but I thought that the Roman setting was perfect. The one shot from above of the large gathering in the center of town is astonishing. And it's the actual lifeforce that gets translated. Remember, we're not only talking about the Roamn Era, but also about the era of filmmaking that created such classics as Ben Hur. Phoenix is an exquisite example of this. His prissy, uppity Emperor is the ideal classic-era Rmoan prissy, uppity emperor. The haughty tone he gives his speech with a faux accent and nose planted up in the air just add levels of nuance.
But, let's be serious, Crowe is the star. Time and again he emotes, even going as far as to intentionally emote nothing, Maximus' way of dealing with the horrors he's seen and caused in battle. Maximus derives no joy from the bloodshed. Instead he is saddened in the matter of fact way that the combatants approach killing in the name of entertainment. He will get his vengeance, but unlike our modern action heroes, he does so with a heart full of sorrow, still grieving for his slain family. While the whole romantic interest angle between himself and Commodus' sister seems a little out of place, that isn't Crowe's fault. Gladiator is this years' epic, one that I'm sure will endure the test of time. It just might even appreciate with time. Maximus, Maximus, Maximus!