Gladiator - a fight for freedom and revenge (Gladiator (DVD))

Member Name: sharkofmirkwood

Product:	Gladiator (DVD)
Date:	27/07/09 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great fighting scenes, excellent story

Disadvantages: A bit too long, sometimes slightly boring

____---------_____GLADIATOR______---------_____
Released in 2000, Gladiator was one of the biggest movies of its time, and its popularity at its release can be compared with that of more recent movies such as The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Every cent of its 103 million dollar budget was used with splendor on a range of things - from all the breathtaking landscapes and scenery, to the excellently chosen cast and crew, and magnificently realistic CGI effects.


---PLOT---
The dying Emperor of Rome chooses Maximus, a General of the Roman army, to be his successor. Before he has a chance to make this decision public, he is murdered by his own son, who wanted to rule the Empire. After taking over from his father, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) orders the execution of the General Maximus (Russell Crowe) and his family.
Maximus escape execution and hurries to Trujillo, his homeland in Spain, to find the crucified bodies of his wife and son. Without any food or drink, he mourns for his family, until he is saved from death by slave-traders that turn him into a Gladiator, and make him fight for his freedom under the name of 'The Spaniard'. Instead of freedom, however, Maximus wants to avenge his family, which he tries to do with the aid of fellow Gladiators and the Emperors sister, Lucilla.

---PRODUCTION---
The film opens with a tranquil scene - a man walking slowly in a field of long grass, which seems to be in another world, before cutting to the same man, Maximus, at the beginning of a battle against the Barbarians, in Germania. This opening battle scene was shot in Bourne Woods in Surrey, England. Apart from this location, there were two more main areas where they filmed Gladiator. One was in Ouarzazate, Morroco, where they shot the slavery, desert travel and the Gladiator training school. The last location, which they used most, was Malta, where they shot the rest of the movie. In Malta they built a full-scale replica of about one-third of the Colosseum, which cost about $1 million. The rest of the great building was generated with Computer Graphics. The whole movie was made at the end of the 20th Century, and was released in May 2000.


---CAST AND CREW---
Gladiator is a massive budget Hollywood movie, and so features some quite well known and talented actors.
The most famous actors in Gladiator include Russell Crowe, who played Maximus; Joaquin Phoenix, as Commodus the deranged Emperor; and Connie Nielsen, as Lucilla, Commoudus' sister.
Oliver Reed portrayed Proximo, a former Gladiator that bought Maximus in North Africa, to make money from. Unfortunately, Oliver died from a heart attack caused by drinking too much Alcohol, before completing his part in Gladiator, and for the rest of the movie they had to complete his scenes using CGI.
Gladiator was directed by Ridley Scott, who is renowned for using very slow pacing and slow music until a fast action sequence, which makes his movies very dramatic. An example of this is in Gladiator, when Commodus and the senate are planning quietly, and then suddenly Maximus is fighting in the arena.. Other works of Ridley Scott include Alien, Blade Runner, and the recently released American Gangster, which also features Russell Crowe.

---HISTORICAL INFLUENCES---
According to some, Gladiator was influenced by two similar 1960s films - The Fall of the Roman Empire, and Spartacus. These two movies were of the same genre, and involved many of the same, or at least similar, characters. Gladiator successfully brought back the long-lost 'sword and sandal' genre, which had been dormant for a while.
Although Gladiator feels as though it could have actually happened in the past, the whole story was just written by a scriptwriter. Obviously, there was a Roman Empire that existed in reality, and the Romans used to watch Gladiators fight, for entertainment. But most of the storyline of Gladiator is fictional. Marcus Aurelius, the original Emperor in the film, did rule in 180AD, and could have been murdered by his real son Commodus, who had a sister called Lucilla. But Maximus and his fight for revenge and justice exist only in the movie Gladiator.


---CINEMATOGRAPHY AND SOUNDTRACKS---
One of the features that made Gladiator such a good movie was the music. Combined with the excellently used cinematography effects, such as low lighting, and very dark and cloudy backgrounds, the music helps to create an astounding, dark atmosphere.
The soundtracks in Gladiator were composed by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard. Luciano Pavarotti turned down an offer to perform in the soundtrack, and later regretted this. Some of the music from Gladiator was played in the NFL playoffs in January 2003, in America.

---VERDICT---
A movie with a budget of over 100 million dollars, which has won 5 Oscars including best Actor in a Leading role and Best Visual Effects, obviously isn't going to be bad.
Gladiator, however, is much more than just 'not bad'. It's the sort of film that you will watch once and never forget, which is perhaps partly because of its length - the extended version of it is almost 3 hours long!
The length does not matter, though, as the movie is so good that you will not be worrying about the time you could be spending doing something else. Thanks to it's huge budget, excellent actors, and phenomenal Computer Generated Imagery, Gladiator is a movie that, granted the viewer has enough time to watch it, will be enjoyed by anyone. Rated R in America, and 15 in the UK, nobody will be let down by the gruesome and bloody fight scenes.

Summary: A must-see movie!