Review of Gladiator (1992) by Mrmoviebuff — 04 Dec 2016
"Are you not entertained?!" Says Russell Crowe in his ambitious character. I was entertained... for the most part of 'Gladiator', directed by Ridley Scott, the movie stars Russell Crowe as Maximus, the leader of the Roman army to battle against the Germanic tribes.
Maximus decides to retire to his Spanish farm estate, however, the son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris), Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) wants to rule, but is unfit in his own father's eyes, to say the least.
However, Commodus does end up becoming the new ruler, and asks Maximus for his loyalty, Maximus is then arrested, but manages to escape and get back to his farm. When he arrives, he sees that his family are dead, meaning he was too late to return.
When Maximus finally goes to show what he is capable of, that is when the movie really starts to move fast, however, some of the dialogue in this movie comes off as a little corny, even for a movie that was released in 2000.
The screenplay by David Faranzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson is sharp, but ill-timed here and there. Ridley Scott directs this movie with pure ambition, and Russell Crowe is at his best here, not to mention Joaquin Phoenix, who plays the cold villain with such a menacing presence.
The movie, as a whole, feels a bit stale and at times, emotionally detaching. I liked it for the most part... but I couldn't admire or even love it.
This review of Gladiator (1992) was written by Mrmoviebuff on 04 Dec 2016.
Gladiator has generally received positive reviews.
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