Gladiator

Spectacle has always been a form of entertainment in the world. If it is exciting to watch it is profitable to produce it. Writer David Franzoni, author of the first draft of the screenplay for Gladiator, realized this while on a motorcycle trip across Eastern Europe and the Middle East in the early 1970’s. Everywhere he went he saw arenas which told him that there was a lot of business in olden times for sports, especially gladiatorial ones. This culminated with the reading of Daniel P. Mannix’s novel Those About to Die, the book that ultimately gave him the idea for Gladiator. It would take twenty-five years before the opportunity to write the script presented itself, with a little push from Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks Pictures. Ridley Scott was brought in to direct it after a three year hiatus and the result was a nearly three hour epic historical drama that was both a financial and critical hit resulting in five Academy Awards including the Best Picture of 2000. 

In Gladiator, Russell Crowe portrays Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius, a man whose only ambition is to finally return home to his wife and son and settle down to a peaceful life of farming. Before he can do this he must lead the Roman army to victory against Germanic tribes near Vindobona. After the battle is won Maximus visits with Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius who confides in him that his own son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), is unfit to rule and that he insists Maximus rule in his stead until the time is right to restore Rome to a republic. When Commodus hears his father’s plans he secretly murders him. When Maximus refuses to swear loyalty to him, Commodus has him arrested and sentenced to death alongside his family. 

Maximus overcomes his executioners but is unable to reach his family in time to save them. Injured and delirious he collapses. When he comes to, he is captured by a slave trader and finds himself sold off to Antonius Proximo (Oliver Reed), an old former gladiator who earned his freedom and now trains the fighters for his own profit. Maximus, with guidance from Proximo, rises in the ranks of the gladiators and eventually finds himself fighting in the colosseum where he will get opportunity to confront Commodus and get his revenge. 

You can tell, within a reasonable margin of error, when any given film was made based on a few factors: visual effects, make-up effects, shooting styles, and even the film stock. Look at three films made about the same time period, one from the 1940’s, one from the 1970’s and one from 2000 and you will be able to accurately identify what decade they came from. The early 2000’s, for instance, had a style of editing that was popular for just a short time where the image would stutter and get overly grainy, like frames were deliberately left out to achieve this stuttering effect. It can be seen in films like Die Another Day and Hannibal and thankfully fell out of popularity within a few short years. Its presence in Gladiator nails down just when this film was produced. It’s distracting at best and jarring when watching some of the arena fights where it is primarily incorporated, especially during a one-on-one fight between Maximus and Tigris of Gaul which includes the added danger of real live tigers. This stuttering camera work coupled with the overuse of handheld “shaky” cam footage hasn’t aged well. This is Ridley Scott and his DP John Mathieson trying too hard to look modern and sleek and it doesn’t serve the film well. With the upcoming release of Gladiator II it would be surprising if the same techniques are used to keep the films stylistically similar even though this fad has mostly been left in the past. 

Films like this live and die by their spectacle and Gladiator has that in spades. The opening battle sequence is well directed and, while brutal, doesn’t revel in the violence. This isn’t an exploitation picture although it doesn’t shy away from the blood and gore, either. The same goes for the arena battles. When it does show gore it does so to maximum effect such as when a chariot rider in the arena is bifurcated by a wheel spike. It happens quickly and then cuts away, not glamorizing the gore. An over reliance on blood and gore would numb viewers after a while losing its effectiveness. Ridley Scott is a better director than that. He would use similar restraint in his sequel to Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal. In that film there are just a few really violent moments and when they happen it is shocking in a way it wouldn’t have been had the film been more visceral throughout. It’s not a great film, primarily because it jettisons the novel’s final act in a feeble attempt to appease audiences, but it is still a well constructed film. 

The late 1990’s to mid 2000’s were the height of Russell Crowe’s popularity as an actor and leading man. He got his start in the Australian film industry before transitioning to American cinema in the mid 1990’s with schlocky action films like Virtuosity and the highly stylized Western The Quick and the Dead. People really took notice of him, though, when he starred in the Curtis Hansen noir thriller L. A. Confidential, a film that could have won Best Picture in 1997 had it not been for the juggernaut that was James Cameron’s Titanic. He was at the top of his game in 2000, so much so that the controversy surrounding his film Proof of Life, a controversy that virtually derailed his co-star’s career, didn’t seem to effect him much. His leading man status has more recently diminished, though, and he more often than not, plays supporting roles these days.

There’s no denying his screen presence here, although it is a bit limiting. He is just too stoic in this role yet he not only got a nomination for his acting, he won the Academy Award for it. There is some good stuff here like when he first arrives back at his home, burned to the ground and his wife strung up, dead. It’s horrifying, even though we don’t actually see her body. All we need to know is in his expression. This man, this general who has faced untold horrors on the battlefield, is reduced to nothing by what has happened to his family. Moments like this cemented his win but it does feel like this was a bit of a makeup for him not even getting nominated for L. A. Confidential, a film with a much more nuanced performance. To prove this was not a fluke award, though, he would get another nomination the following year for A Beautiful Mind. I would say that the latter film is the more impressive performance but the former was the one he won for. 

Gladiator has a rather thin plot to it. It can be boiled down to a man being wrongfully imprisoned and seeks revenge on the one who made it happen. It’s a fairly rote plot that is only made exciting thanks to the setting and production values. This film looks slick and the scenes in the colosseum are impressively filmed. This is in no small part thanks to a director with a history of making epic looking films in all sorts of genres. Famously he made the still impressive looking Alien and Blade Runner movies, neither of which had a huge budget but still hold up by today’s standards. Gladiator is like that, too. It may look like a film from the early 2000’s but that doesn’t mean it looks dated, beyond some of the stylizations of the era. The effects still hold up and there was very little digital trickery that stood out and called attention to itself. Some of the writing was a little clunky, specifically surrounding the character of Proximo, who had to have scenes rewritten when the actor, Oliver Reed, died suddenly during the production. Some digital trickery was utilized to give him a finale but this was still an effect in its infancy and is used just to wrap things up quickly. 

Gladiator holds up rather well for a swords and sandals epic from twenty-five years ago. It’ll be interesting to see how the long awaited sequel plays out and whether it’ll receive the same critical praise when it releases this November. The trailers look like it leans too much into digital spectacle but trailers can be deceiving and there may be an excellent story behind all that. Only time will tell, there. I’m glad I got a chance to rewatch this film before the new one drops as it will allow me to better compare the two films side-by-side. I’m not a huge fan of these types of films but this one wins me over. It is well made, well paced, and gives me a lead character I can get behind. It does run a bit too long but when it does finally get to the fight between Maximus and Commodus the payoff is well worth the wait. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: David Franzoni, Branko Lustig, and Douglas Wick (won)

Best Director: Ridley Scott

Best Actor: Russell Crowe (won)

Best Supporting Actor: Jaoquin Phoenix

Best Original Screenplay: David Franzoni, John logan and William Nicholson

Best Art Direction: Arthur Max and Crispian Sallis

Best Cinematography: John Mathieson

Best Costume Design: Janty Yates (won)

Best Film Editing: Pietro Scalia

Best Original Score: Hans Zimmer

Best Sound: Bob Beemer, Scott Millan and Ken Weston (won)

Best Visual Effects: Tim Burke, Neil Corbould, Rob Harvey and John Nelson (won)

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Release Date: May 5, 2000

Running Time: 155 Minutes

Rated R

Starring: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, Derek Jacobi and Djimon Hounsou

Directed By: Ridley Scott