Product: Gladiator [VHS] (2000)
Rating: 3.0
Death Wish 180 A.D
Gladiator is a dark and violent tale laced with some very cool action sequences. Like Spartacus, it tries to be an old-style sweeping epic, while on the other hand, it tries to be a dark story of revenge, not unlike the very cool Conan the Barbarian. Strangely, it's not a great example of either of these things. As impressive as the scope is, the plot of Gladiator is both dull and familiar. Part of the problem is that the character of Maximus has no complexity. He's a one-note hero, a generic good guy on a noble mission. Crowe does a lot of contemptible sneering at the bad guys, but doesn't have enough material to shape a 3-dimensional persona. You never doubt that Maximus will triumph because he's clearly set up to; he lacks the even the slightest sense of depth, so there's no reason for him to be in the movie except to triumph. Another problem is that, while the action scenes are good, the rest of the picture is painfully slow. I'm talking "Masterpiece Theatre" slow. Characters talk in cliches or give laborious soliloquies. I believe that it's hard to write or perform characters from Roman times because it was so far back in history; the primary source material for writers or actors feels like it comes only from other films.At its heart, Gladiator wants to be the next Braveheart. You know, the period epic that obtains a loyal legion of fans and goes on to win a handful of Oscars. The difference is that Braveheart was more strongly conceived; it knew what it was about and what it wanted to say. Gladiator, meanwhile, serves up some amazing bits of action, but begs you to take it seriously the rest of the time.