Gladiator

Given my age and sex, it should come as no surprise that Gladiator is one of my favorites. I re-watched this film for the first time in several years and found that it's actually better than I remembered.

Gladiator (2000)

Directed by Ridley Scott
Starring Russell Crowe

Acting: (9.5) This was Crowe's coming out party and the role that he'll probably always be remembered for. Sure, he was good in LA Confidential and The Insider before the release of Gladiator, but it was this outstanding performance that thrust him into the mainstream spot light. It's one of the truly great tough guy performances of all time.

Joaquin Phoenix is pretty special in what I consider a very underrated performance. Very few people could play that role like he did. I thought he walked a tight rope that bordered on absurd, but never crossed the line.

Effects / Cinematography: (10) This is where the film was better than I had remembered. Using only my feeble memory, I've struggled to come up with a movie more visually and audibly impressive than this one. The LOTR trilogy is the only thing that comes to mind. The cinematography, score, and sound are as good as anything else that has ever been made. The battle scenes have yet to be topped in the 8 years since it's release.

Plot: (9) It's a classic revenge plot in a classic setting. I'm not sure there has ever been a tougher, more likable hero. Though this movie is really character driven, they are so good that you can't help being sucked into the story.

Entertainment: (10) My shrinking attention span is the only thing keeping this from being a 10. I find it more and more difficult all the time to remained focused through 2.5 hour movies...regardless of how great they are...and this one is great. It truly is the ultimate guy in the ultimate guy movie.

Cumulative: (9.5) This now moves up to #2 on my all time list behind only the LOTR.


LD'S TAKE (Posted 7/7/08)
After reading Derek's review on this I had to go back and watch it again. It had been almost two years since I had seen the movie and even though I had purchased the extended edition DVD I had never made it through (Mainly because a friend had it for 12 months). So I went back and watched the extended edition (nothing real exciting added) and my rating was reaffirmed.

Acting: (10) There can be discussion around the non-complexity (not sure if that works or not) of Crowe's character, but given the script he was given and the role laid before him he absolutely nails this performance. I am not sure where this role gets put on the all-time list, but in my opinion from a "guy-movie" standpoint this is the best performance I have ever seen. Add to that Joaquin Phoenix's best performance ever (which either adds to the film or takes away from it depending on your view of him), and effective performances by the rest of the cast and you have a run away for a 10 in the acting rating.

Effects / Cinematography: (10) Ridley Scott absolutely shines with this visual masterpiece. The only argument I would accept as to why this is not a 10 is if 1) you didn't like the sped up battle scene in the beginning or 2) you thought the lighting was too dark through a lot of the movie. Other than those proposed arguments I don't see how anyone could find fault with the film. Those things did not impact the movie for me hence the 10 rating. The music is also great.

Update from imdb.com:
The war scene between Maximus' army and the Germanic Tribes the blur effect that appears half way through the scene was not originally intended. The scene was shot in the early evening, but continued too long and the light was drastically diminished. In order to keep the continuity of the scene's lighting and avoid shooting another day on the location, the DP chose instead to shoot the scenes with a very low frame rate. To compensate for the loss of frames, the frames that were shot were duplicated several times in post, and edited into the film in a way that made the switch look natural.

Plot: (9.5) Nothing absolutely unique, but the character performances throughout the movie are terrific. The story is strong and keeps you in tune to what is going on. I would hear an argument that the fight at the end of the movie is a little over the top, but considering the place that the young ruler was in I think it was definitely a feasible move for his character.

Update from imdb.com:
The real-life Commodus was in fact the only Roman Emperor in history to fight as a gladiator in the arena. However, he did it several times, not just once. Also, he was not killed in the arena but was strangled in his dressing room by an athlete named Narcissus.

Entertainment: (10) A visual masterpiece and just a tremendous hero story.

Cumulative: (9.875) The sheer enormity of LOTR keeps that trilogy as my #1 all-time, if you forced me to break up the trilogy and rate each of the movies individually then Gladiator would be the #1 movie on my list.