My Review of Gladiator (2000)

 

Written by David Franzoni And John Logan And William Nicholson

Directed by Ridley Scott

Maximus: "Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is that not why you are here?"

With Gladiator II coming out in less than a fortnight, I was definitely overdue a rewatch of thr first movie. A movie I confess I haven't watched since it's release in 2000. Yes, it's been that long. Does it hold up?

To that second one, yes, yes it does. I had forgotten how enjoyable this movie was and how great a director Ridley Scott can be with the right material. It's also a movie where both Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix give some of their best career performances. 

For Crowe, he's in the role of protagonist Maximus Decimus Meridium, a Roman General, fresh from victory and on the cusp of becoming the regent of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris). Unfortunately for Maximum, there's the problem of Aurelius's son, Commodus (Phoenix).

Commodus was desperate to succeed his father's rule and if he had to kill his father to do it, that wasn't an issue for him. If he had to get Maximus and the latter's family killed in order to further secure his succession, he'd do that too. If it also meant intimidating his own sister, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and her son, Lucius Verus (Spencer Treat Clark), he'd do that too.

Actually there wasn't a lot that Commodus wouldn't do to be successful but unfortunately for him, Maximus was a bigger threat that wouldn't go away. Worse than that, he was a threat building up on allies like fellow slave Juba (Djimon Hounsou), Lucilla and Senator Gracchus (Derek Jacobi) to name a few. 

By the time we get to the final act, there's a fairly tense fight scenes between both Maximus and Commodus. It's a scene where the latter grimly realised how much support he truly had before his great defeat. As for Maximus, he certainly entertained before getting his own final send off.

- Other brilliant performances in this movie were from Oliver Reed, Tommy Flanagan and David Schofield as Antonius Proximo, Cicero and Senator Falco.

- Some of the dialogue was add libbed and Crowe was famously critical of a lot of the dialogue from the movie. 

- Standout music: Hans Zimmer's soundtrack is superb with highlights being The Emperor Is Dead, Strength and Honour, Reunion, Am I Not Merciful and Now We Are Free.

- Chronology: Based on the figures in this movie, it's around 180 AD.

Gladiator has certainly age well as a movie. It's an entertaining blockbuster with some liberties taken but with also a great series of performances and action sequences throughout. After watching this again, I'm looking more forward to that sequel later this month.

Rating: 8 out of 10