As his character commands legions, does Russel Crowe command his audience

Rating: 7/10 (26 June 2000)

In a spectacular historical drama such as Gladiator, the acting must be on the same scale or the whole thing becomes comical. Russel Crowe brings brings a style that portrayed a character of heroic proportions while at the same time making him accessible to the average person. Crowe has a approach to this role, as he did in "The Insiders" that shows the human foibles of his characters without making them look weak or pathetic, but rather human and vulnerable. This makes the character look all the more heroic in their pursuit of the quest, their meeting of the challenge. A hero is all the more appealing when he disposes of a truly despicable adversary. Meeting the challenge to provide the evil, in this tale of good over evil, is Joaquin Phoenix. This guy gave us a totally corrupt and spineless adversary from frame one. Playing the power hungry, selfish, insecure, lying and witless, son of the Emperor, who kills his own father to gain power and then tries to seduce his own sister to satisfy his warped desires, Joaguin succeeds handily at turning the audience to the side of the out manned and helpless hero. All of this played out on the stage and setting of ancient Roman Empire. The action scenes were spectacular and well thought out. The costuming was interesting, but I think not accurate historically. Except for a couple of incidences of scenery players, guards and line soldiers, chewing gum, I felt that Director Ridly Scott did a good job of taking us back to a time when there was only one ball game in town, The Roman Empire.
It reminds us that while world conflict takes nasty turns and is fraught with danger from the unknown and unknowable, it is equally dangerous to put all of the power into the hands of the few for the convenience of peace.