Thank God for Gladiator

Rating: Null/10 (18 May 2000)

I was beginning to think that no one would ever make another Roman epic, which would have been a shame because no other genre can match it.But this is something else.It isn't Spartacus, nor (thank god) is it Braveheart, unlike Braveheart there does remain at least some historical accuracy.Ridley Scott delivers a modern masterpiece in that it is a historical piece without a modern feel.Those first battle scenes really had my blood pumping, and it didn't feel like gratuitous violence, it challenged Saving Private Ryan for the best battle scenes I have ever seen.Thankfully with all the main characters having died at the end there will not be a crappy sequel or franchise made out of it, it stands alone, which is only right.The performances are actually faultless, I mean really faultless.Russell Crowe is totally believable and kicks ass with a vengeance (dare I say, he makes Charlton Heston look like a real pussy.)When he kicks the crap out of Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix, who wisely decides not to do what Christopher Plummer did under similar circumstances and go over the top but emanates twisted villainy so that we really hate his guts)I really felt like cheering.I am so glad he didnt spend half the film moping about his wife and kids, he just gets on with what he does best, kicking ass.In support, Richard Harris looks like death warmed up as the ailing emperor Marcus Aurelius (I hope that was just make up for his sake)but exudes quiet tired dignity as a man who has had enough but cannot die lest Commodus get his slimy hands on the imperial throne.Derek Jacobi is also great as a wily old senator who knows every trick in the book(his first Roman role since he made his name in I Claudius more than 20 years ago)and there is a grotesque cameo from the obese David Hemmings as the master of ceremonies (to think he was once a sex symbol)These three, together with the late Oliver Reed were called by Scott "the four Horsemen of the apocalypse" and it is ironic that it is Reed who died during filming, who looks the best, and he really throws himself at his role as a beefy, experienced Gladiator trainer and is memorably larger than life (ironic as there is at least one of his scenes which is a CGI image of him)Even dead, Reed can act his fellow thesps off the screen.Ten out of ten.