Gladiator: Movie Review, DVD Review (2000)

11/01/2007 Posted by Admin

Inflation

Directed by Ridley Scott, written by David Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson, 150 minutes, rated R.

(Originally published 2000)

Beefcake! Blood! Body slams! Boring!

Boring? Well, not quite, but at 150 minutes, Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” isn’t entirely the thrilling, action-packed Roman epic some fans of the genre were hoping for when the film was released.

Too long by a third, the film features a terrific opening in its vicious, well-staged battle against Germania, but then it quickly dissolves into 90 minutes of dull chatter before finally getting on with what audiences want--gore, political upheavals and fantastic betrayals.

Here’s a tip: Before seeing the film, first arm yourself with its three main source films: Fred Niblo’s 1926 silent film, “Ben Hur,” William Wyler’s 1959 remake, “Ben Hur,” and Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 spectacle, “Spartacus.”

Those films not only showcase how well the Roman epic can be pulled off, but also how far Scott came from creating a gripping epic of his own.

Above all, “Gladiator” exists to be an epic. Fueled with a $100 million budget, the film boasts big sets, a big story, a computer-generated recreation of the Roman Colosseum, a terrific cast, literally thousands of extras, and a good director. Those are its strengths.

Its problem is that its characters aren’t especially interesting. As Maximus, a general from Spain who loses everything -- his freedom, his wife, his son -- after the actions of his arch nemesis, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), Russell Crowe (“L.A. Confidential,” “The Insider”) has presence, but no core.

His character is an enigma, the suffering hero we never truly get to know. That’s no fault of Crowe’s -- his passion holds the movie together in spite of his character’s two dimensions -- but more a fault of the screenwriters, who made the timeworn mistake of focusing their attention almost entirely on the film’s plot.

“Gladiator” is hardly beaten down by its dull stretches. Once the stage is set for Maximus to overthrow Commodus, the film comes to life in its terrific last hour, which is so rousing, it seems as if somebody else is directing the film.

With Connie Nielsen as Commodus’ miserable sister and the late Oliver Reed, who died during production, nicely conniving as Proximo, the film is ultimately clouded with historical inaccuracies, the worst of which is Crowe’s thick Australian accent, which proves something of a problem since Australia wasn’t discovered until 1,800 years after “Gladiator” is set.

Grade: B-