Gladiator Review by Tim Wick
I've been agonizing over this review since I saw Gladiator last night.
I've carefully read every review I could find just to try to figure out what
I missed.
The problem is that I liked the movie. I mean I really liked it. But I had
expected I would LOVE it. I had wanted this movie to be this year's Matrix.
I had wanted it to be as spectacular and huge as the great biblical epics of
the 50's. I wanted to crow out that this was a five beaker film and how
could I have punished myself by waiting almost two weeks to see it?
Problem is, I don't feel that way. Maybe it's because I wanted to feel that
way so badly that I was bound to be let down. Maybe it was because I wasn't
there on opening night when the audience would have cheered at the end of
every fight sequence and muttered about how cool some of the things Russel
Crowe's General Maximus says ("In this life or the next - I will have my
vengeance" - oooooo). Maybe it was because I was feeling guilty that my
wife let me go out and see this movie alone while she stayed home with my
son.
Maybe.
Or maybe the film wasn't quite as good as it could have been. The problem I
wrestle with is that this film should be better than Return to Me and
Keeping the Faith and Frequency but for me it was not. Formulaic and
predictable as those films were, I found them touching and clever and
entertaining in ways that went beyond what was done in this film. Which is
tragic because there are moments in this film that are superior to anything
I have seen in a long time.
Most of the strong scenes are not in the arena, but in one or two person
exchanges outside of it. The fight sequences are terrific for the most
part. They give you a sort of first person, you are about to get skewered
by a gladiator kind of look that is very engaging. The opening battle is at
once impressive in it's display of Roman military tactics and lacking
because of some stylized camera work that I found jarring. The battle
constantly sped up and slowed down to give it (I think) a sort of dreamy
quality that served to pull me out of the battle and make me remember I was
watching a movie. That may have been what Ridley Scott was going for, but
it didn't quite work for me.
What works the best? Connie Nielson and Russell Crowe. After Mission to
Mars, I would have thrown in the towel on Connie Nielson's career. True,
the script was stupid, but she added nothing to it. In Gladiator she
radiates an impressive combination of hate, strength and fear in her
portrayal of emperor's sister, Lucilla. Her character has simple
motivations, but must follow a very twisted path to achieve her desires.
She is not a hero, she is not even a completely good person, but she is
human and that is what her character needs to be.
Crowe is a worthy successor to the likes of Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson and
Charleton Heston. He may do all of them one better. His Maximus is a
farmer who happens to be a great general. As he walks through the gigantic
playing field on which he is almost pre-destined to live his life, you never
lose sight of the man who just wanted to be a farmer. For all that simple
wish, you see the way he looks at the emperor and you know this is a man
with one goal and it is a goal that he will achieve. After seeing Crowe in
The Insider, his transformation to Maximus is amazing. You have real
difficulty believing he is the same man.
Most of the other actors do a fine job. Oliver Reed, in his final film
role, is alternately despicable and almost fatherly as the man who purchases
Maximus as a slave. Dijmon Hounsou (who was impressive in Amistad), plays
another Gladiator who sees his road to freedom through Maximus. Derek
Jacobi plays a senator who believes that Rome must be given back to her
people and taken out of the Emperors hands. Finally, Richard Harris plays
the dying emperor, Markus Aurelius. All these actors are wonderful and
convincing in their roles.
Joaquin Phoenix as Emperor Commodus was one place that the acting fell flat.
Not actually bad, Phoenix just was not able to pull off a slow descent into
madness that the script seemed to call for. Instead, he just started as
crazy and ended that was as well. His character could have almost been
sympathetic, but he was not. he was just a crazed leader who desperately
needed someone like Maximus to get in his face and kick his butt.
Without really giving anything away, I also found the ending bothersome. I
saw it coming thirty minutes before it got there, so it did not have the
emotional impact it should have.
I wanted to give this movie five beakers. I am going to have to give it
three. If however, you are looking for an alternate opinion (and there are
several), you may want to check out this review on
Aint-it-cool-news
or this review from
Entertainment Weekly
(written by
the critic-most-likely-to-think-exactly-opposite-of-Tim-Wick, Lisa
Schwartzbottom).
I'm guessing this film will be up for scads of awards come next year.
Perhaps I will have found reason to change my mind by then. Until then, I'm
still looking for this year's best picture.
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