Do You Like Movies About Gladiators?

Rating: 7/10 (15 June 2004)

Once upon a time, Hollywood made lots of movies like this, with "Quo Vadis?" "Ben Hur", and "Sparticus" springing most quickly to mind. Then the space age arrived, and sword & sandal epics became as passé as the western.
Fortunately, Ridley Scott and a talented team of writers figured out a new way to breathe life in the old formula, with the help of CGI and a talented leading man. Frankly, the story of Maximus, a toppled Roman general who reclaims his political clout in the ring of gladiatorial combat, is a little thin when you think about it. But it's delivered with a lot of panache and visual flair.
Russell Crowe isn't too multi-dimensional, but he's more than adequate in the role of Maximus, tender at times but more a gloomy muscleman. He's interesting, even brilliant in flashes, like when he finds the dead bodies of his wife and son, but he doesn't engage you enough to fret overmuch over his fate. Joaquin Phoenix delivers the best performance as the mad Roman emperor Commodus, "vexed" as he is by Maximus's reappearance but trying in his own sad way to be noble and loving. At times Phoenix seems to be channeling Malcolm McDowell, though not the time McDowell actually played an emperor in the nasty "Caligula."
Speaking of British film stars of the 1960s/1970s, there are three of them in this film, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, and David Hemmings, all of whom are now dead just four years after the picture's release. This amounts to something of a swan song for all of them, a fitting one as it turns out. Reed especially has his moments. Connie Nielsen presents us with both regal sexiness and hurt-stained eyes as Commodus's sister Lucilla, Maximus's former lover who clearly carries a torch still.
We wait for Maximus and Lucilla to take up again where they left off, now that Maximus is single again, but the film reminds us time and again that Maximus's loyalty to his family extends beyond death, that he believes he will see them again in the afterlife. This spiritual dimension, unexpected from a film set in pagan times, lifts the film in my mind to the point where it really clicked with a lot of audiences. It also sets up Crowe's best bits of dialogue in the second half of the movie.
Of course, there are some amazing fight scenes as well, in the Colisseum and other gladiator venues as well as Germania, where we are introduced to Maximus putting down a barbarian rebellion. The combat scenes are where the CGI work and other special effects especially shine, with a fight between Maximus and his cohorts against a squad of charioteers making for one heady adrenaline rush.
But Maximus's followers are never adequately developed as people worth caring about. Also half-baked is some intrigue involving Lucilla and some Roman senators, including Derek Jacobi, who needs to be wearing a toga like Clint Eastwood does a cowboy hat. The crowd reactions to Maximus, especially when they suddenly recognize him en masse as the lost general who had never visited Rome and chant his name to spare him from Commodus's fury, cries out as obvious plot convenience. These aren't major flaws, but they do stick out on repeat viewings. 'Gladiator,' like many spectacles ancient and modern, never quite satisfies as well as it does the first time you see it.
All in all, I have a hard time accepting this as the 2000 Best Picture Oscar winner, especially over "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which is a more amazing feast for the senses and a better story besides. But 'Gladiator' is a good film, something more than your average blockbuster, and worthy watching.