# Gladiator (2000)

### reviewed by
Steve Rhodes

    GLADIATOR
    A film review by Steve Rhodes
    Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes
    RATING (0 TO ****):  ***

In GLADIATOR, director Ridley Scott (ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER) wants to give us a SPARTACUS for our time. With John Mathieson's stunning cinematography, Hans Zimmer's music reminiscent of a Wagnerian opera, Art Max's lavish sets and with extensive computer graphics, Scott has some impressive ingredients with which to work. Most of all, he has Russell Crowe (an Oscar nominee for THE INSIDER) in the starring role of Maximus, a general and a gladiator. A red-blooded film, it works magnificently in its fighting sequences as people are sliced and diced faster than you can count them. A virile motion picture, it's the happiest when it's the goriest.

    But … (Yes, there's a "but.")

It's great in the ring and on the field of battle, but most of the movie concerns Roman political intrigue that's as foreign to American audiences as the machinations of today's ever-changing Italian governments. Although it picks up toward the end, most of the movie has you slumping in your seat as it drags on. Action pictures should be measured by how often you are on the edge of your seat, and in GLADIATOR this almost never happens. The script's writing committee of David H. Franzoni (AMISTAD), John Logan (BATS) and William Nicholson (FIRST KNIGHT) has success with Maximus but significantly underdevelops the other key roles.

The story concerns a Roman general, Maximus, whose allegiance to a quickly murdered Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) costs Maximus his freedom and the lives of his family. Incorrectly assumed dead, Maximus reappears in the gladiator minor leagues, far away from Rome. When he becomes famous, he is drafted by the majors and sent up to meet his nemesis -- the killer of his family and the new Emperor.

In two bad casting choices, Joaquin Phoenix plays Commodus, the new Emperor and Marcus Aurelius's son, and Connie Nielsen plays Lucilla, Commodus's sister. An especially lame villain, Phoenix doesn't show any depth. Similarly Nielsen, last seen in MISSION TO MARS, approaches her role with lackluster simplicity when an ambiguous duplicity would have been more interesting. The two actors sap the energy out of any scene in which they appear. And the ones with only them in it are the worst of all.

The result is that what could and should have been a great film turns out instead to be merely an adequate one. Only the film's look and Crowe's usually wonderful performance causes it to rise above the ordinary.

GLADIATOR runs way too long at 2:30. It is rated R for pervasive strong violence and would be acceptable for older teenagers.

Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com

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