Gladiator

GLADIATOR

Rating: B-
Russell Crowe plays Maximus, a general in the Roman army second to none in bravery and fighting skills. Now that the local barbarian uprising has been crushed, Crowe looks forward to returning to his wife and son on their homestead to live off the fatta the land. Unfortunately, Roman emperor Richard Harris is in failing health, and wants Crowe to take the reins after his death. (It seems to me George Washington had a similar predicament.) More unfortunately, the emperor has a son (Joaquin Phoenix) who's the kind of guy who waits until the battle is over before riding up and offering a hand. When the beloved emperor dies, Phoenix seizes power and orders Crowe and his family executed to cover his tracks. Crowe narrowly escapes, but is captured and sold into slavery, where Oliver Reed preps him as fodder for the gladiator arena.

Thus, director Ridley Scott's gladiator epic devolves into a simple revenge film peppered by battle scenes in the ring. The filmmakers appear reluctant to give the audience anything beyond a very menial plot, as if a more complex story might drive viewers away. For all I know, they could be right, but at the same time their simplistic approach keeps the film from rising much above a mediocre action film, and often evokes memories of the Star Trek episode "Bread and Circuses". Basically, what we get are scenes of dialogue acting as bridges between bloody combat in the arena. And although the combat scenes have their moments, there's not a single one which could be considered memorable.

I was particularly disappointed in the tiger sequence. The theatrical trailer showed a brief shot of Crowe in the arena with a tiger, which led to my overactive imagination conjuring up all sorts of exciting possibilities. What's in the film isn't necessarily bad, but let's just say the tigers (there's more than one) are relegated to a supporting role in the fight. Years from now, you won't be telling your grandchildren about it. Of course, if a female warrior had been killed in this scene, I could have said the tiger was "glad 'e ate 'er".

As you might expect, this film set in ancient Rome is rife with digital composite shots. Adding to the workload was the fact Oliver Reed died before principal photography was complete, and his last few scenes had to be added digitally. These sequences passed by without my noticing anything was amiss, and I was only reminded of them by a friend after the film was over. Most of the composites involving the Colosseum are likewise skillfully executed, even if sometimes it seems Scott rapidly cuts away from the interior shots to keep the trickery from being detected. Much worse is the sequence when Phoenix rides into Rome to claim the throne. The digital work here is bloody awful, leading me to conclude the shots had to be rushed so the film could meet its release date.

Ultimately, this film's downfall is the way it resolves the conflict between Crowe and Phoenix. Without giving too much away, what happens is that Phoenix does the absolutely stupidest thing possible to allow Crowe back into the game. If you weren't rooting for Phoenix's demise already, you will after that simply because he seems too stupid to let live.