GLADIATOR
[Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Richard Harris, Connie Neilson, Oliver Reed, Djimon Houson, Ralph Moeller]

If you were to take Saving Private Ryan, Braveheart, Spartacus, and Ben-Hur...and put them together, Gladiator might be the result.

Gladiator is the first Roman epic done in 30 years. It begins around 180 AD. The Roman army, led by the Spanish General Maximus (Crowe), faces their last battle against the barbarian Germanic hordes (an opening likened to that of Saving Private Ryan). Once done, the empire will know peace, but the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Harris) hasn't got much time left to enjoy it. Impending death can motivate you to set things right for the future, and Marcus sees Maximus as the right guy to lead Rome in a transition to a republic. This does not sit well with the Emperor's son, Commodus (Phoenix). The sniveling would-be emperor seems to have everything except for compassion, sanity, the love of his father and the love of his sister, Lucilla (Nielsen). As Maximus has all these things, Commodus isn't about to give up his supposed birthright, so daddy has an unfortunate accident and sends Maximus out to be executed. It doesn't quite work out that way and the General, injured, escapes. He races back to Spain only to collapse from exhaustion, injuries, and the sight of the Emperor's will carried out upon his wife and young son. Waking as a captured slave, the fallen general soon becomes the property of Proximo (Reed) to fight in provincial coliseums as a gladiator. But would you believe it? The new emperor decides to re-open Rome's coliseum to 150 days of gladiator battles, and one thing can lead to another...

Director Ridley Scott took a chance at making this epic film... But taking a page from Spielberg, and shooting the movie in a way that the audience can connect to it (such as Spielberg shooting SPR like a Vietnam war documentary), creating a world they can taste and smell. Now Ridley Scott might be accused of aping Ryan. The opening battle in Gladiator against the barbarians even employs some of Spielberg's tricks such as washed out color and dropped frames of film for that documentary feel. Scott, however, is one of the pioneers of this style of filmmaking. With the well-received Alien and the originally not so well received Blade Runner, the director has probably had more influence on all science fiction since than either Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey) or George Lucas (a certain trilogy). Not as successful at triumphing over weak scripts (Black Rain, G. I. Jane) as his younger brother Tony (Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II) Scott has plenty to work his magic here.

This brings us to the story. Originating from David Franzoni and re-written by John Logan and William Nicholson, the script thankfully draws inspiration from much more than Spartacus and all the freakshows about the decadence of the Roman Empire (Satyricon, Caligula). The solid historical basis begins with Caesar Marcus Aurelius, a wise and glorified emperor whose reign is often considered the golden age of the Roman Empire. His text of his philosophy and thoughts, called Meditations, is a classic and a cornerstone to Russell Crowe for his research for Maximus. Marcus did die during a campaign against Germanic tribes in 180 AD, leaving his 19-year-old son Commodus as the new and later reviled Emperor.

Maximus is another matter. His fictional origins come from classic Greek tragedy. I see a big red flag popping up over Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. Having just returned from years of battle, the victorious and popular soldier has the opportunity to become Emperor himself. After turning the position down, the new Emperor, Satuninus, the decadent and untrustworthy son of the late Emperor, views Titus as a threat. Following exile and the deaths of most of his family, Titus vows revenge on his tormentors. Any of this sound familiar? To cap it off, the name of the last man standing in both "Titus" and "Gladiator" is the same.

Reportedly, much footage depicting the politics and maneuverings of the Roman Senate were cut to keep the film moving and reduce its lengthy running time. Looking at just the movie itself, Crowe and Phoenix are brilliant, as usual. The rest of the almost completely British cast are excellent, particularly with dialog that could have easily come out stilted or ridiculous. As important as Crowe is, this film would have been awful without the brilliance of Ridley Scott, still one of the best directors of big films, today.

-JoE-
©2000 JMR