Product: Gladiator [VHS] (2000)
Rating: 2.0
Halfway there.
I've been a big fan of Crowe since Romper Stomper and thought he was great in LA Confidential, but in Gladiator there's really not much for him to do but grunt. The opening battle scene was a mess and early on set the pattern for all that followed in the arena. Scott seems to have gone for the typical high gloss form of Hollywood filmmaking, employing quick cuts with something flying into the camera every second (the latter seems to be the action norm ever since the Twister trailer). The ending is the very definition of anti-climatic. Bottom line, Gladiator never figured out if it wanted to be Braveheart or 13th Warrior, and as a result ended up stuck somewhere between an epic film and a fun movie. Too bad it couldn't make up its mind. Still, I'm looking forward to the DVD's commentary tracks; if nothing else, at least it looked pretty.