Appollonio and Gotto

Rating: 10/10 (6 June 2001)

A lot of strange comments on this film:
No plot - did you actually watch this move?
Not history - yes we know that - it's a s-t-o-r-e-y - just like Tom Clancey writes stories we like to see turned into movies
Russell Crowe isn't any good - no one in Hollywood could have done it - period
Joaquin Phoenix isn't good - any one else would have been laughable - his portrayal of madness, twisted love and power is extraordinary
Boring - it just happened a long time ago - guess you dropped Ancient History in school too
Glitches - of course it has - everyone has had problems with these types of films including Spartacus and Ben Hur
The one thing that is really different about this movie is that you feel connected with Crowe and Phoenix - I never connected with Kirk Douglas or Charlton Heston
Maximus - the classic warrior - his look, his command, his devotion - I didn't get that emotion from Gibbon's Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire - Maximus became real
Commodus fascinates with his mad driven emotions " we both loved my father that makes us brothers" - wonderful madness - we love to watch and hate him
An incredible insight into Rome - the powerful foreign general - the twisted murdering heir - triumphant armies - the tottering republic - conspiring senators - royal family love and hate - punishment and revenge - slaves and gladiators - swearing allegiance or death - magnificent achievements of the ancient world - blood and death for sport - long military campaigns and the wish for home
This film reveals to us why men from all over the known world fought and died for the Roman Empire - even though they may have never been to Rome - Maximus tells this to Marcus Aurelius - the world is dark but Rome is the light - all my studies and reading never helped me understand that - it's the same reason in WWII why someone from a Kansas farm would join the Army and fight in Germany even they had never been to Washington
The downside:
Russell Crowe may never find such a perfect part again
Juaquin Phoenix may never find such a perfect part again
Riddley Scott may never find such a great story to tell again
Hans Zimmer may never find such a tough movie to so brilliantly score
The upside:
Maximus Decimus Meridius will always exist in our minds
Commodus will always exit in our minds Ancient Rome will always exist in our minds We will always see the grain awaiting harvest when we hear that haunting sound
But I will always think of Appollonio and Gotto and wish they were my horses too