Rome's Best DVD (Gladiator (DVD))

Member Name: Slim Lee

Product:	Gladiator (DVD)
Date:	07/02/01 (379 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Too many to list here so read the Opinion!

Disadvantages: If they left out the useless production notes it would have been faultless

There was a time when films set in the Roman era ruled the silver screen. Epics such as Ben Hur and Spartacus have been justifiably held in high esteem for many years now, but no pretenders to their thrones have emerged. Until last year that is with the release of “Gladiator”, the first film in decades to be set in this period which can be justifiably labeled as an epic! At over two and a half hours in length it will keep you glued to the screen. The length is not a problem. I never even so much as glanced in the direction of the clock.

Gladiator was the hot release of 2000 and has subsequently sold like hot cakes on both video and DVD (great feature, but I’ll review that part elsewhere). Now that the awards season is kicking into gear you should be prepared for this film winning a hatful of them. My personal guess is it will scoop around 6 or 7 Oscars.

******


That section is a direct lift from my more detailed Opinion on the film, just to give a little background to the film. This opinion is purely on the DVD release so if you haven’t seen the film yet, then go check out my review!

“An awesome achievement” - TOTAL FILM

A quote from my favourite film magazine on Gladiator
(great publication … read my opinion on that too!)

Okay, the shameless plugging is now over and done with lets get onto the Gladiator disc shall we …


******


FEATURES:


• Two Disc set.
They have had to put this on two discs (dual layered), the first containing the film with all the subtitles, and the second with all the extra features. This DVD has so many features it is positively bursting out of the box!

• Anamorphic Widescreen 1:2.35 ratio.
This feature basically means that it expands to fit the screen without pixellating the quality of the picture. In other words it still looks sharp.

• Dolby Digital 5.
1 and DTS soundtrack.
Gives a superior sound as it uses more audio channels. Play this on a Dolby pro-logic system and or one with surround sound speakers and you will feel like you are on the battlefields with Maximus!

• Impressive array of Subtitles
Covering 17 languages including English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hindi, Hebrew, Bulgarian, Croatian, Turkish, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Greek, Norwegian, Arabic and Dutch.

• Full-Length Film Commentary.
This is found on Disc 1 with the main film and subtitles and features running commentary from Director Ridley Scott, the editor Pietro Scalia and the Director of Photography John Mathieson. IF you really want to see how they made the film then you ahve to watch it with this turned on. You will pick up so many little details that were not so obvious on the first few viewings. I never even noticed the changes they made to the Dreamworks titles on the opening sequence! Watching the film and listening to this at the same time can be hard going. Only for the really avid film buffs out there.

• The making of Gladiator.
This is a pre-film release documentary filmed by HBO and it lasts around twenty fives minutes (perfect for TV). IT gives away quite a lot of the films’ plotline but is excellent for those who have seen Gladiator and want more. They show some behind the scenes shots and have interviews with the cast and crew. Most notable is Richard Harris’s praise for Russell Crowe.

• Hans Zimmer Profile – Composing Gladiator.
A 20 minute documentary covering the making of the musical score of the film (which is also in the running This is one of my favourite features on this disc as it reveals some details that you just didn’t notice in the film. Did you realise the music playing over the Germanic battle is a Waltz? Neither did I and I never even contemplated it until seeing this featurette! Zimmer utilised such
a wide range of styles and themes to suit each individual scene and gives the film a more soulful and emotional feel (especially with the haunting songs sung by Lisa Gerrard). The score really does inter-weave with the film and compliments it brilliantly.

• Storyboards.
I didn’t expect much from this but was surprised at the level of detail they have supplied here. From a full storyboard sequence of the Germanic battle to the Coliseum scene it’s all here. They have even included some of the scenes they rejected from this stage in the production. A good example of this is the “Rhino” scene that was deleted. Now that would have been impressive if they could have pulled it off! There are also some of the sketches they used in designing the artwork used in the film here too.

• My Gladiator Journal.
A written account (in the form of a diary) of making the film from Spencer Treat Clark, who played Lucius (daughter of Lucilla). For a kid of such early years he sure can write! It's very long, but still interesting in places to get a different perspective on the film making process.

• Gladiator Games – The Roman Blood Sport.
A 50 minute long documentary previously shown on the Learning Channel (something like the Discovery channel is the USA I think). It’s a simple, if somewhat glossy at times, look at the history of the Gladiator and how they lived their lives. It also contains (in some older copies) a particular poor scene of Hillsborough, meant to represent football, when will American documentary makers learn? Happily this is edited out of most copies on sale now.

• Deleted scenes.
“From the cutting room floor” with optional commentary from the Director Ridley Scott. Twelve scenes in all, some they should have kept, other rightly left out. The “Battle Aftermath” and “A meeting at Gracchus’ house” scenes would have
been good, the “Fed to the lions” one too if the stupid lion had been a bit more eager. The twelfth “scene” is actually a 7 minute montage of deleted clips put together specially for this DVD by editor Pietro Scalia. Superb!

• Theatrical Trailer/Teaser.
Another of the trailers used in promoting the film. It’s not too different from the original one but somehow doesn’t get the hairs rising on the back of your neck so much.

• Theatrical Trailer.
I can remember seeing this trailer and nearly screaming out “when is it out???” A good example of how to advertise a film without giving the whole plot away.

• TV Spots.
A selection of four TV adverts used in the USA prior to the films’ release. The first two are reasonable but the latter two really don’t portray the mood of the film well.

• Cast and Crew.
The usual biographies of the main cast members giving a few bare bones (two to three pages each, with the exception of Ridley Scott’s) on the people involved in making Gladiator.

• Stills Gallery.
A collection of still photographs of the cast and crew. Pretty dull really, the only interesting ones being the stills of the tigers jumping at Russell Crowe and the set shots of the construction of the Coliseum. Incredible to see how much of this was real and not CGI generated.

• Production notes.
A useless feature, as they don’t tell you anything more about the film.


The Recommended Retail Price (RRP) for this beauty is £24.99 but it can be picked up easily for between £19.99 and £21.99 in a high street shop (try WhSmiths) or you can try online and pick it up for a paltry £17.99 (try www.play247.com) what a steal!


There you go .. possibly one of the most feature packed DVDs you can buy. A truly classic film, with a DVD packed out (over 2 hours of extras) to match.


Need I say any more?


P.S. Watch out for this one at the 2001 Oscars, I think it’s going to win a few!


OSCARS
======

The Oscar nomination have just been announced and Gladiator conquered them by scooping up TWELVE of them!

The full list:-

Best Film
Actor in a Leading role (Russell Crowe)
Director (Ridley Scott)
Music, Original Score (Hans Zimmer)
Cinematography
Art Direction
Costume Design
Film Editing (Pietro Scalia)
Actor in a Supporting role (Joaquin Phoenix) - WHAT!!! have they lost their senses???
Sound
Visual Effects
Original Screenplay

My guess? IT will romp home with a total of EIGHT golden statuettes!


Post "Oscars 2001" update
=========================

Well, it won Best Picture as expected but actually came home with 5 Oscars in the end, fewer statuettes than it was tipped to do. The Oscars it has won are as follows:

• Best Picture
• Actor in a Leading role (Russell Crowe)
• Sound
• Visual Effects
• Costume Design (Janty Yates)

Must say that i'm glad that Joaquin Phoenix didn't get the Supporting Actor one, but as you will see from the comments there is a mixed view on his performance! But the flipside to this is the shock of the soundtrack not getting another statuette for Hans Zimmer.

And the moral of the story is?
Don't trust any of my predictions! Ever.


P.S. This is stll the best feature packed region 2 DVD I have come across. Best film, Best DVD, Best soundtrack ... so what are you doing still sitting here reading this? Go watch it!!

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