Review of Gladiator (2000) by Sinisteris T — 13 Jun 2014

"Are you not entertained?".

Heck yeah I'm entertained, well at least for the first two-thirds of your movie, Maximus. But at that point your movie kind of forgot about the gladiatorial combat that sold tickets in the first place and kind of became more of a political thriller. Albeit an ancient history political thriller but one nonetheless.

Roman general Maximus refuses to pay allegiance to duplicitous new emperor Commodus and is forced into slavery as a gladiatorial combatant.

The performances in this film are very solid from top to bottom. Russell Crowe shows the intensity that catapulted him into mega stardom after this picture. Juaquin Phoenix, Oliver Reed, and Richard Harris are also really good. Ridley Scott is a director's actor. One thing he is not, however, is a great director of action. He's not as bad as his late brother, but for the most part the fight scenes lack cohesion. Especially the early ones are chopped into quick cuts that are hard to follow. Despite that criticism, the tour de force battle involving chariots in the colosseum is still rousing, partially due to Maximus' direction of his "soldiers" during this scene and and a sense of momentum.

Anything involving the senators is definitely not as compelling, the film loses sight of who it's audience is during these scenes. We are left cold during these dialogue sessions and just wondering when the next battle is going to take place. Still, the film remains exciting and dramatic 14 years after it's release. Score: 8.