back in the days of the roman empire , italian soldiers spent a lot of time conquering europe . but as one particular caesar ages , he ponders his purpose . " maximus , why are we here ? " ( in germania ) , he whines . " for the glory of rome , " maximus ( crowe ) responds . reflecting on the bloodshed , caesar sighs , " so much for the glory of rome . " this seemingly-innocent mumble has a wonderfully-biting double edge . tired of war , caesar plans to raise his trusted and son-like warrior , maximus , to guardian of a restored republican rome . yet , in all his great wisdom caesar prematurely reveals the plan to his real son , commodus . ( there'll be no rome left for him . ) before maximus is ordained , commodus kills his father and thus becomes a tyrant king . he orders the deaths of maximus and family , then sits back in the throne . maximus narrowly escapes , but is captured ( as a slave ) by a circus leader who runs a traveling gladiator show . coincidentally , commodus decides to reinstate the game in rome , thus the mighty maximus arrives back in the capital harboring a festering vendetta . it's a great story , celebrated warrior turned slave , turned gladiator , turned revolutionist . and crowe is steadfast . but here are the problems : his son and daughter look like models in an aspirin commercial . they have no lines . they're displayed either as utopian or crispy dead - never real . so we feel nothing for them and when they're slain , we don't care . better to leave them unshown . crowe is a great actor , let his love for them be enough to make us care . this is a long film , cut out their segments entirely . conveying them only as ideas , the film would be stronger . i have great faith in crowe's ability to make us long for that family with him . unspecified , we can fill in the blanks with our own warm feelings of home . the two other problems involve the beginning and the ending . i just don't believe that a great wise leader would have so immaturely handled such a delicate situation as depriving the thrown from his immoral son . caesar would have ordered his son commodus off on some important mission in some distant land or other , while maximus was ordained . either that , or ( dare you scheme with me ) caesar may have wanted the son to murder him , thus inspiring maximus all the more - but if the writers intended this twist they certainly did not clearly lay it out . such a strategy would have improved the film and my ability to " buy in " earlier on . but weather you " buy in " or not , it's still a fun story . powerful underdog , rising from the slime and under-appreciated to challenge the all mighty czar . and there's all that blood and guts in the arena . the very first fight ( meant to establish crowe as a fighting man's general of war ) begins with nightsky-scraping flaming arrows that dash across in the twilight emitting a magically-lethal orange glow . i thought to myself , " this is one medieval battlefield rumble to end all cinema recreations . " as the conflict rages , the camera angles become increasingly narrowed and the screen full of flames and blurred soldiers in slow mo . but the effect becomes over-digitized in a strobe reminiscent of a consumer camera , subtracting from the realism and gravity of the fight . and instead of continuing the ever-tightening angle to personalize the savagery , a few mid-wide shots are tossed in . it breaks up the direction of the sequence and wakes the viewer from its hypnotic effect . still a strong sequence overall , but " the messenger " did a better job . lastly , this is an action film and not-disappointingly it ends with action . unfortunately , a few additional lines of dialogue are tacked on , again diluting the power of the event . nothing needed to be said ! " gladiator " does best what it proposes - it be's big ! though i expected more from this two hour fifty minute epic , i still enjoyed it , while most others i spoke with loved it . gladiator . copyright © 2000 . rated r . starring russell crowe , joaquin phoenix ( commodus ) , oliver reed * ( proximo palindromos ) , richard harris ( marcus aurelius ) , connie nielsen ( lucilla ) , djimon hounsou ( juba ) , ralf moeller ( hagen ) , derek jacobi ( gracchus ) , spencer treat clark ( lucius ) , david hemmings ( cassius ) , tomas arana ( quintus ) . directed by ridley scott . written by david franzoni . executive producers : walter f . parkes , laurie macdonald . produced by douglas wick , david franzoni , branko lustig at dreamworks/universal . grade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b + -- copyright © 2000 . ross anthony , currently based in los angeles , has scripted and shot documentaries , music videos , and shorts in 35 countries across north america , europe , africa and asia . for more reviews visit : <a href= " http : //rossanthony . com " >http : //rossanthony . com</a> 
