- Gladiator was Ridley Scott’s comeback film in 2000. It had been a long nine years since 1991’s Thelma & Louise. 1492: Conquest of Paradise, White Squall, and G.I. Jane had all failed to fully land.
Russell Crowe on the other hand was on the rise and Gladiator was yet another notch on his belt after 1997’s L.A. Confidential and 1999’s The Insider.
- The film was Oliver Reed’s last (he passed away before its completion) and is an important film for Hans Zimmer as well.
- The film opens in Germania in the second century. The in medias res action sequence is exactly how Bond or Spielberg would have opened the film. Some of the strongest photography in the film is during this sequence. Crowe gets his best line (in a film filled with them) here as well with his “What we do in this life echoes an eternity.”
- Gladiator was a financial success – single handedly helping to bring back the action epic or the sword and sandal epic- a revival from the 1950s and 1960s.
Scott brilliantly weaves in Maximus’ (played by Crowe) hand in the wheat field as a nice recurring surrealism formal marker.
- Gladiator also serves as reminder that Joaquin Phoenix (here as Commodus) has been a wonderful actor for a very long time. He is just 26-years old here in 2000 and this the first of his four (and counting) Oscar nominations. Phoenix has these amazing, shadowy raccoon eyes here. His Commodus is petulant, incestuous (poor Lucilla played by Connie Nielsen) and malevolent. Richard Harris (inspired casting as Marcus Aurelius) and Phoenix have a exceptional scene together- “Your faults as a son, is my failure as a father.”
The sun pours in beautifully through the trees at the 41-minute mark. These sections were shot in Surrey—but most of the rest of the film was shot in Morocco.
- The film sort of resets at the 43-minute mark. The resulting film is an Outlaw Josey Wales (family murdered and house burned in the opening credits) revenge film. There is hand to hand combat the rest of the way (the opening set piece is a war action sequence). The action direction from Scott in the Battle of Carthage set piece, in particular, is inspired. His work is clear, crisp, riveting action- even with so many moving pieces (and the cutaways to a mocking Phoenix in the crowd).
- Crowe and Phoenix get the most room to maneuver and this is evidence that both are phenomenal actors- but the older generation looks good here as well. Not only are Reed and Harris both superb- but there is not nearly enough of David Hemmings here for my liking.
- Recommend / Highly Recommend border
@Drake- What are the Oliver Reed films you have in the archives?
@Drake-Did you see Gladiator 2? How does it compare to the original?
@Malith- others can chime in- but the original is superior
@Malith – I would agree with @Drake but it is definitely worth seeing. Here is a good article for breaking down the action sequences
https://collider.com/gladiator-2-action-scenes-ranked/
@Drake – Agreed, I found it an inferior film to the rest of 2024 and Gladiator. The shots in the black and white afterlife zone at the start of the film were stunning though.
Somehow I haven’t seen the Original yet but I thought Gladiator 2 was a very fine film. And I’m heavily surprised because I didn’t expect much after the Napoleon debacle. There are few flows here and there like the CGI monkeys but nothing too big and I love how simple the plot is and how well so many characters are defined and built. Nothing comes unexpected. It’s a power struggle and each have their own motivation. And this is filled with twists(often deaths) to key players to constantly keep the engagement. I don’t think you can ask for a better family-friendly popcorn entertainment.
I’m not sure there is one stunning scene to point out but there are many recurring overhead shots, long shots to capture the epic feeling. It’s a worthy film from Scott. And I’m frankly surprised.
@Lionel – sounds encouraging, I got tickets to see it tomorrow night. The first is definitely worth watching. I thought this film was incredible when I saw it as a teen. It definitely was not as great as I had remembered or more accurately I just knew much less about films back then. But you should check it out
I definitely had a far less positive feeling on the film, but it was a fun watch in theaters with my family for sure. It’s held back a fair amount by a relative inability to differentiate itself from the long shadow of the original, with a lot of the story feeling like relatively uninspired attempts to hit the same exact emotional beats (and often not quite hitting the mark). That fact, plus an overall dip in attention to visual detail, made this a solidly inferior movie.
Denzel was pretty good though! Liked his work.
@ga-I would thoroughly disagree you with on the visual detail comment. This one had better images overall than the first Gladiator. Lot of doorway shots. Overhead shots. But the first one used much less CGI and had the grittier lived in look. Many older movies on film have this realistic gritter look than the new ones. I didn’t think much of Denzel’s acting actually like many. He is a fun character and a puppet master. And a decent villain. But I didn’t feel he really went deep inside that character. Mescal is quite strong in the final part as well.
@Lionel- so you did end up seeing Gladiator (2000) as well now?
@Drake-Yes. Yesterday actually. I liked the Pedro Pascal fight more than any battle in Gladiator. I think there were 4 of them in the first one. All of them apart from the Phoenix one maybe got tiring after a while with constant closeups edits rather than using the wider frame. Shame about Oliver’s Reed’s death too. His last two scenes are CGI sadly. It was weird seeing him going down without a fight. But I guess they did the best they could in that situation. He is superb overall as is Harris and Phoenix. I feel like these 3 have scenes that are better than anything from Crowe. But he is the lead and he is great too. I hoped for a little more passion in the final fight from Crowe. Connie Nielsen has her moments too. It’s an exceptional cast. The second one is more bloated and has lesser acting from everyone. It felt more concerned with visuals and scale than the first one.
@Lionel – good for you for checking that one off the list
@Drake-Did you downgrade half a grade off this film? I see it is rated R/HR here while it is HR on the Ridley Scott page.
Do you think the Extended Gladiator Cut is the best version? I watched it and then searched for the differences from the theatrical and some added scenes seemed pretty essential and connected scenes to me. Like Commodus executing two soldiers for betraying him and angering the commander which comes to bite him in the finale, Proximo seeing a spy watching the messenger which is connected to his scene with Maximus afterwards, Lucilla and Gracchus plotting against Phoenix and Lucilla saying Commodus must be killed, Commodus striking a statue of his father and embracing him etc. I normally don’t like Director’s Cuts but this felt like a good one that improves on the Original.
I’m surprised Vanessa Redgrave wasn’t part of this film. David Hemmings, Oliver Reed and Richard Harris are all here haha. Actually sadly all 3 of them died around the same time this film was released.
What films from 2021 do you have in the archives right now, and when you are done with 2020 will you release a 2021 page immediately or wait a little while to collect some more watches (or even do the same thing with 2020)?
@Zane- I should complete the page for 2019 by the end of this week- and am shooting to have the 2020 page complete by the end of the following and the 2022 page shortly after. They should all three be completed and out near the end of the month.