I do not know if I am obsessesed in writing about periodic movies, but one thing is for sure, I love History and I love the film “Gladiator”. This movie is so close to my heart that I tend to forget as to how many times I have watched this movie. It may be close to 20 times, but every time I watch this movie, it does not bore me, which is the actual hallmark of this film! Gladiator is the story of General Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) and his legend.
The film starts off with the historic Germanic War with General Maximus leading the army. If you have a liking for the war scenes, you will certainly cherish this one. The Romans win the war, under the astute leadership of Maximus, who is very close to the ailing King Aurelius (Richard Harris). Aurelius is not happy with his son Commodus (Joaquin Pheonix) and decides to hand over the leadership to Maximus and asks him to return the power to the Roman Senate after his death. King Aurelius believes
that Commodus does not have the qualities to be a good king. The emotional confrontation between the King and Commodus comes to an end when Commodus kills the King and assumes the leadership of the Roman Empire. Maximus believes that there is a conspiracy in the death of the King and is confronted by Commodus guards before he tries to bring the matter to the senate. Maximus is taken to an undestined location where he is about to be executed. He escapes from there, and is wounded and is mustering all his energy to save his loved ones, his wife and his son. But Maximus is shell shocked when he discovers their dead bodies and gains conscious only after sometime when he wakes up to being carried along in a caravan.
The rest of the story marks the way of how he becomes a gladiator and seeks revenge for the killing of his family. He becomes an instant hero with the crowd and wins the heart of the mob (the roman people as mentioned in the movie). Maximus is supported by Hagen, Juba (Djimon Hounsou) and Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) in his efforts to make the vision of King Aurelius come true. Lucilla is the widowed elder sister of Commodus and always had a liking for Maximus before her marriage. The movie is very good in most of the action sequences, be it the Germania War at the start of the movie or Battle of Zoma in the newly built Colosseum and the fight sequence with the Tigris of Gaul. The movie is well balanced in both the emotional and action segments and leads to a fitting climax. The dialogues in the movie are worth mentioning and my favorite is the one rendered by Maximus. After leading Proximo’s men to victory in the Battle of Carthege, Commodus comes to meet Maximus, unknown about his identity. When Maximus turns his back on him, Commodus asks his name, and Maximus takes off his mask and replies him by saying, “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies in the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor Marcus Aurelius, father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife; and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next”, which makes a chill go down your spine. And there is another dialogue between Commodus and Aurelius, where Aurelius at the inefficiency of his son says, “Your failures as a son are my failures as a father” is really apt for the scene and never goes away from your mind.
Russell Crowe as General Maximus gives a stunning performance and richly deserves the Academy Award. He is at ease in both of the action and emotional scenes and comes out on top. Joaquin Phoenix as an incestuous brother, and an betraying son has done an commendable job. His emotions are quite real and when he looks at Maximus and says “Why don’t you simply die” (after Maximum defeats Tigris of Gaul) is awesome. The crew is well supported by Connie Nielsen and Djimon Honsou, who play their part to perfection. The special effects team has done good job, be it the portions involving Colosseum and Warfare, the CGI is stupendous. The film is directed by Ridley Scott who has also done films like Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven, American Gangster and Alien. The film was critically acclaimed and went on to become a huge hit. Gladiator has the right mix of action, emotion and grandeur and will surely entertain you!! Watch the movie and surely you will not be disappointed. Cheers!
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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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Apr 9th, 2009
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