“My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North and Servant to the true Emperor, Markus Aurelius; Father to a murdered son; Husband to a murdered wife; and I will have my vengeance in this life or the next.”
This is the sort of line that doesn’t appear in your low budget run-of-the-mill Australian movie which Russell Crowe would have been used to in his past, this is from a multi-million dollar movie – this is Hollywood!
Ridley Scott is renowned for his movies and this is no exception to his rule of action, tension and excitement. The storyline is perfect – interesting but not too difficult to understand, and the action sequences are out of this world. The soundtrack by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard does so much to help this movies action and tension, and is one of the greatest movie soundtracks of its decade. The computer representations of Rome, the Coliseum, and the crowds of spectators are very well done and Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix prove such a great pool of talent that this movie is up there with all the greats like Braveheart and Ben Hur.
Maximus is a General in the Roman army and commander of “the armies of the north”. The movie begins with him commanding a battle against the barbarian horde of Germania (which of course they win) under the watchful eye of the aging Caesar (Richard Harris RIP). Afterwards he discovers that Caesar does not wish his son Comodus (Joaquin Phoenix) to gain power after his death, but would like Maximus to take the role after his death. Comodus finds out about this and kills his father before the message can be passed on and then proceeds in an attempt to kill Maximus and his family. His family die, but Maximus escapes his clutches and is captured by some travellers who take him to Zucchabar to become a Gladiator. The movie continues with them going to Rome, and a huge showdown at the end, with a lot of spectacular action sequences along the way.
The action in this movie is fantastic, with plenty 9but not too much) blood and gore to add to the authenticity. It is fully believable and grips your attention so well. There are some almost comic moments with the spectacular ways Maximus slaughters the various foes he faces and works the crowd.
The casting for his movie was also spot on. The characters are all played with great enthusiasm by all of the actors/actresses, and I was especially well impressed with Joaquin Phoenix’s performance. I have only ever seen him before in “To Die For” and he was almost as good in that, but his performance as the “bad guy” is truly amazing. He is not simply a nasty bugger, he is a man who appears confident in public but breaks down in private and eventually descends into madness. Russell Crowe was also excellent as Maximus, with equally excellent performances from the late Richard Harris and the late Oliver Reed (who died during the making of the movie).
The soundtrack to this movie definitely deserves some sort of an award. It is classical music at its best and in my opinion is better than some Mozart/Tchaikovsky etc. but this is dangerous waters so I’ll go no further. The depth of the music and the different levels it explores (rousing battles, quiet laments, awe inspiring views) are what makes this movie really stand out above the rest. I would recommend buying the soundtrack to this movie as well definitely.
All in all, this was an excellent movie and well done to all who made it happen. I would recommend it to everyone who enjoys watching movies (and I think that’s about 99.9% of you!!)
Banjo
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Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
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Jan 27th, 2003
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