09/07/09 - Gladiator

Gladiator (2000, 155 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172495/

Following frequent quoting of this movie by my friend the other day, I decided to watch it. I don't know when I saw it prior to this but it was quite some time ago. It was always an enjoyable movie but I was interested to see how it would stand up to another view.

The film tells the story of Maximus (Russell Crowe). A general in the Roman army, he is betrayed by his friend Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) when Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) names Maximus his successor to the crown as opposed to his own son Commodus. Maximus's family is killed and he becomes a slave and a gladiator. Making his return to Rome in a series of games set up by the now Emperor Commodus, Maximus gets his chance at vengeance. Also starring are: Connie Nielsen as Lucilla, Commodus's sister and half-ally-half-foe of Maximus; Oliver Reed as Prixmo, Maximus's owner when he's a gladiator; and the senators headlined by Gracchus (Derek Jacobi).

This movie is all about revenge and it plays out as Maximus versus Commodus. Because of this, these actors are the forefront of essentially every scene. Crowe does a phenomenal job (as always) and is easily worthy of his Oscar nominator for Best Actor that year (having not seen all the other performances I can't say if he was worthy of winning it, though). However, the scene stealer is actually Phoenix. Phoenix displays how amazing his acting is at a time when I don't think many people had heard of him (I know I hadn't). He completely takes the role of Commodus and runs with it. As Commodus, he is forced to display a wide variety of emotions and also forced to switch between them quicker than Crowe who is usually in a state of perpetual rage and anger. Crowe is great here, don't get me wrong, but Phoenix is much better. At least in my opinion.

Gladiator's revenge story is hard not to enjoy watching. We have an excellent plot and some memorable characters. One major flaw resides in the Lucilla character. Torn between being an ally to Maximus and protecting her son the character is poorly managed. There is apparently a subplot between her and Maximus and a former relationship between the two but this really isn't explored that much and it hurts the character. Finally, her son Lucius never comes across as worthy of any reward. Sure, it's great that Maximus is able to save her son's life since he couldn't save his own, but Lucius is never portrayed as worthy of this sacrifice of Maximus. And the Lucilla character certainly isn't worthy of this sacrifice. I feel this point of the movie could've been handled much better.

The action scenes in Gladiator have easily stood the test of time. The Carthage battle I actually found more enjoyable this time around. The Germania battle and the beginning gladiator duels are also fun, as is the one-on-one fight between Maximus and Tiger. One complaint I have with them though is the violence. Gladiator seems torn between making the violence realistic and making it too realistic. It's an odd blend of sometimes severed limbs and spraying blood to having the camera sometimes cut away right before a strike. One choice or the other should have been made.

And finally, two last unrelated comments. The score and soundtrack for this movie is really bad in my opinion. Sometimes a scene's music screams "Look! Watch this! It's important! You can tell by this important music!" and I don't like that. Overall, the music just doesn't match up with what we're seeing on screen. The exception to this is the gladiator scenes when the music is fast and goes with the rhythm of the fighting, but these are just a few scenes in a long movie. And last but not least, one particular scene I feel is worthy of commenting. When Lucius is sword fighting and is greeted by Commodus he utters the line of how Maximus is the savior of the people. This simple line is chilling. It is at this point that everything Maximus has been working towards the past thirty minutes or so in the movie comes crashing down. This scene and the scene after it where Commodus talks to Lucilla about Claudius are amazing.

Overall, I gave this film an 8/10. I've essentially listed all the negatives above with no real mention of the positives besides the acting of Crowe and Phoenix. Well, the film does have a lot going for it besides just this. The film is an absolute joy to watch. Sure there are some pacing issues with the last hour having some filler, but the whole is still grand and great. Gladiator has quite a few flaws but that doesn't mean it isn't one of the most enjoyable movies to watch.

[Note: Due to a voting update, I have changed the rating of Gladiator to a 07/10.]