Oh, What Might Have Been...

Rating: 8/10 (12 May 2000)

Category Rankings on a 5 point scale
STORY(3) : An above average "man-wronged" incarnation that gets dragged down by lifeless subplots and broad level political schemings.
CHARACTERIZATION (3) : Neither heroes nor villians are properly explored. None of them have any wants and needs beyond the obvious. Noone is occupied w. the culture of the time. Commodus is bad because he wants his sister but they never show his egomaniacal nature.
DIALOGUE(2) : Some truely great lines from Maximus and Proximo can't cover-up the obtuse expositional lines. People speak in such broad generalisms ("We must save Rome from the politicians, Maximus") that it offended me.
PROD. DESIGN (2) : People are just too outfitted in this movie. Too much jewelry, too much armor, too many cloaks. Statues abound, even in field tents. And the lack of sunlight throws everything into a depressingly muddy haze.
EFFECTS (2) : Dark and blurry. Nothing is distinct and detail is non-existant.
DIRECTION (4) : Speed rules the day. Good luck trying to determine what is happening during the initial battle. But I understand what Scott was going for and I believe he partially succeeded in demonstrating the speed and skill of warriors and gladiators alike.
ACTING (4) : Very, very good performances unfortunately wasted.
OVERALL : 18/35
Gladiator appeared to have tremendous potential.
It had all the pre-requisites of those all-to-rare films that can at once entertain, inspire and educate. Sweeping set pieces, heroic feats of courage and villianous deeds of deceit that actually happened!

I mean ---- after seeing the first two shots of this movie (hand in the wheat shot and Maximus w/ the bird shot) who among us did not believe that we were going to see something of a transcendent nature? I certainly did. Even after the first 30 minutes I felt like it was fulfilling my expectations. The small touches : Maximus' faithful dog, the frost sticking the blade in the scabbard, the small statues of Max's family leant a certain "realness" to the opening reel that never carries over.
Unfortunately, some sloppy directing, a poorly concieved story, and some of the stalest dialogue ever helped to ruin the film for me. Not to mention the complete WWF'ing of the gladiator concept and some poor effects/art direction. They took a great concept and turned it into a parody.
Yes, I know I need some cheese w/ my whine but I'm just tired of seeing movies where things so blatantly violate my suspension of disbelief. When an effect is clearly just that - you can't help but be bounced out of the story. Each of the effects shots of the city and the stadium appeared to have been done by a different effects house w. it's own individual style. To compensate for the poorly done effects a dark shadow was cast over the entire production to hid the shortcomings that CGI brings.
(NOTE : I have heard that the in all locations save LA and Arizona movies are shown at 75% of their original brightness. So this could have some effect of how good the effects looked.)
When dialogue is spoken on such a broad level (for international translations, of course) that you are re-writing it in your head, viewership becomes tetious.
When things end in The Big Fight(What ever happened to The Palace Coup?) the film becomes just another typical Hollywood production.

When lip service is giving to the "Afterlife" and "gods" and "the senate" and those ideas are never explored beyond being character arc or plot mechanisms you feel cheated.
In my opinion the kung fu aspect of Gladiator is what gets it such high marks among audiences (especially on the internet).
"Damn, did you see the way he stuck those two swords into that guy and then chopped his head off with both blades! Awesome!"
Now I have no problem w. styling violence but the type of one- up-manship that has been occuring since SPR and the Matrix ultimately hurts things that really matter. Story and character.
And saying that this movie is about for violence in society is like saying that ID4 is about the SETI Program. Allegory is great but when the movie fails on the surface - the sub text can never save it.