Review of Gladiator (1992) by Andy S — 19 Feb 2018

Insane to see how much Crowe's character is respected by his army at the beginning. He seems like he is a fair leader. Jeez, way to start a movie. All that action and the battle sequence. Phew! I can't help but admire how beautifully filmed this is. The cinematography is off the charts.

I can't help but think of Skyrim, watching this movie. Especially the armor and the setting locations of the different places. You can see how unfit Commodus is for being an emperor and also how compassionate Aurelius is towards Maximus, it's really sweet. Wow, Commodus is a son of a bitch, so vicious and malicious.

I can't believe how beautiful some of these shots of the locations are. It looks like Cappadocia. It's crazy how almost flawless the story progresses and unfolds. This movie was brilliantly written. Crazy how back in the days, entertainment was humans fighting humans or lions. It hasn't changed much, only that we're not fighting with bladed weapons on national TV, now it's with our fists.

What a badass though, cut right through all those enemies. The story kind of reminds me of Barry Lyndon's. Seeing all the gladiators work together in the Colosseum was awe inspiring. Fucking ambush is bullshit. I will say around the third quarter of the movie it does get a bit dull around the edges. But I understand it's for consistency. You really see Commodus' colors shine towards the end. You get a good understanding of who he really is: a conniving piece of shit.

The ending was perfect. Justice was served and the scales were balanced. Maximus got what he really wanted: to be with his family on the farm. But he not only died with honor, he died as a hero who wanted to see Rome back on it's feet. Very beautiful ending.

Overall, fantastic movie with a really good story line and terrific acting. I watched it in theaters when it came out but I was too young to understand how good it was. I'm glad I re-watched.