Adequate Roman Epic

Rating: 7/10 (29 March 2002)

There is much to appreciate about about this picture but at the same time there is much to castigate as well. What could have been a thoroughly involving story turns out to be crippled by a lean script, some very indecisive direction and choppy editing. Not to mention some bad casting in the form of Richard Harris as Marcus Aurelius, a role which cries out to have been the last role played by Anthony Quinn.
The film starts out well and looks bleakly authentic in its depiction of the pivotal battle in the wars between the barbarian tribes of Germania and the Roman Empire. But as the story gives way to 40 minutes of exposition following Commodus and Lucilla's introduction, Ridley Scott seems to tack things on whenever the script runs into weak spots. This leaves the film without a flowing narrative and it seems to want to please a mindless summer movie action market while at the same time aspiring to be something deeper. What it leaves us with is a schizophrenic, unequivocal story full of contradictions.
There seems to be an epidemic in the past three or four years - films like this, Titanic, The Patriot, Pearl Harbor, Enemy at the Gates etc, try hard to be great epic films but at their core they are very slight and even trivial. The story in Gladiator holds promise but what little conflict there is set up and thrown at us in the first hour, leaving just a linear resolution to unfold for the remainder. A shame because so many elements could have been introduced in this story to make it truly an awesome and thoughtful epic. I guess complex stories like Spartacus and Ben-Hur will never be made again. This one falls somewhere short, though better than Demitrius and the Gladiators and the film it heavily borrows its narrative structure from - The fall of the Roman Empire.
Technically the CGI is at times seamless and other times poor. When our troop of Gladiators run into the colosseum for the first time however the effect is absolutely jaw dropping and the scene that follows certainly delivers the action goods. The acting is very good throughout except for Tomas Arana as Quintus (about as bad as John Dall in Spartacus) and the aforementioned Richard Harris.
Like Braveheart, not a bad entertainment experience but highly Hollywoodized and with an uneven narrative. But unlike Braveheart, the ending to Gladiator is a just a little embarrassing as it rips off both Braveheart and Titanic to far less effect. If you can get past the flaws, not the worst Roman spectacle on offer. Too highly rated at 8.1/10.