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Review by Susan Granger
3½ stars out of 4
"Are you not entertained?" charismatic Russell Crowe roars
scornfully to the cheering crowd in the Roman Colosseum. Certainly
there hasn't been this kind of awesome sword-and-sandals spectacle
since "Spartacus," "Ben-Hur" and "Cleopatra." Set in 180 A.D., Crowe
plays Maximus, a Roman general who promises his aging mentor, Caesar
Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) that, as his appointed successor, he
will return power to the Senate, thus restoring the Republic. That
infuriates Caesar's evil, envious son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), who
becomes Emperor and orders Maximus' execution. But Maximus escapes,
becomes a slave and learns from an entrepreneur (Oliver Reed) how
gladiators can fight their way to freedom and vengeance. That's when
the excitement ignites. For years, Hollywood believed that historical
epics were too expensive; now, high-tech computer wizards can
digitally revive that classic genre. Ridley Scott has cleverly
recreated a mythic form in defiantly modern terms under the raw,
realistic influence of "Braveheart" and "Saving Private Ryan," meaning
there's lots of gruesome, bloody carnage, plus surreal, dreamlike
glimpses of Elysium. What's most impressive is the gloriously detailed
world Scott creates on-screen, inhabited by characters whose emotional
motivations come from a contemporary mentality. These are real people
coping with real problems in a brutal, superheroic setting. But there
are weaknesses in David Franzoni's story - like alluding to an
unexplained affair between Maximus and Commodus's sister (Connie
Nielsen) - and the overt, almost comic villainy of Joaquin Phoenix,
whose power-hungry demeanor suggests a demented "Richard III." On the
Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Gladiator" is a savage, sweeping,
spectacular 9. Thumbs up!
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
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out of 4
