Lacks originality

Rating: 3/10 (18 August 2000)

After seeing this film my generally neutral attitude to Fall of Roman Empire (the film the Gladiator is almost a remake of-at least the same period and the same characters, almost the same beginning and the end) to almost an admiration. Almost forty years ago they made a watchable, highly spectacular film, with no pretention to be more than a big costume drama, with a wonderful star cast and the magnificent Sophia Loren in the midst of it. What about the gladiator? special effects used to restore the ancient rome are very good. And film is a good sample of new technical solutions for historical films. But apart from this The Gladiator has nothing to be proud of. I can say that there are at least 2 reasons for a film-addicted person like me to dislike it:
1. The story. This is not even a drama, this is melodrama, plot lines concerning children and Christianity are very weak and can be used as a samples (in comparison with the above mentioned nice film of sixties) of incrreasing religiousness and family values addiction of Americans (the trends that may be are not bad as just a social-cultural phenomena but have a very bad impact on cinema). The development of the story is very flat and predictable, (europeans,especially french, often make some new interpretation of old movie themes, but always add something new and original not just to filmmaking process but to the story as well. The story of Gladiator is to polished,well known, reserved, making impression that its makers were doing everything to avoid any originality and interesting moves. 2. The cast. Well, its nod bad, but the main character looks more rather like rugby player than roman general, though his acting is rather good(though not an Oscar-worthy), Mr. Phoenix visually is rather a good type for the Emperor, but all the rest are very boring and unappealing, including the main fimale character (good looks, good acting, but.. not Sophia Loren), It was especially disappointing to see a very bleak and unimaginative acting of great actors of the elder generation (Richard Harris and late Oliver Reed).
Finally I must say that the director of this film, Mr Riddley Scott who made several very good films in his early career started loosing imagination in 90-ies. All his last films have a very promising plot, but a rather ordinary solution. Unfortunately The Gladiator is not an exception.