Chopped Meat, Paper Cut

Rating: Null/10 (1 February 2002)

Ridley has long passed the point where he makes mere movies. For the last few outings, he has been making films about his making film, while, well making a better than decent film.
With the gladiator, among his other duties, Crowe stood a surrogate for Scott himself. There, he drew the audience into a loathing of the coliseum audiences while attracting us with the same gory excitement. Then he stalked us, ate our brains by leaving his hand in the project.
Now he works through Sam Shepard, as the deviser of a this mission. For those who might not get it, Sam is a great playwright famous for self-referential works. Then he got into movies, writing and intending to star in Paris, Texas, a film about film. Recently this was reinvented as "Don't Come Knocking"
He is such an icon of self-reference, he was cast as the ghost (Shakespeare's part) in the Hawke 'Hamlet' last year.
Its no mistake that he's created what we see. Watch how Ewan deals with his being willingly commanded -- precisely like his fearlessness in 'Moulin Rouge.'