Gladiator
(2000)
The spectacle. The bloodsport. The drama. The greatness
that was ancient Rome. Do you get of this with Ridley
Scott's long-awaited "Gladiator?" Not exactly.
The film starts with some title cards that set the
time and place of the story. I don't know if this is
based on actual history or not, but I tend to doubt
it. Still, it's got all those cliches we expect from
a films about Roman emperors: incest, deceit, dying
kings, swordfights, coliseums, slaves, lions, bad accents,
pompous acting.
The first scene is a battle sequence. What went through
my mind? The phrase "Saving Gladiator Ryan." Scott is
no where near as populace and adept at Hollywood magic
as Spielberg though. Scott is more artist. So it doesn't
quite come across as history or verisimilitude. Instead,
it's more heightened exhibition. It calls to mind Bergman
and Eisenstien as easily as it does "Monty Python and
the Holy Grail" or Luc Besson's "Joan of Arc." And moments
that remind you of "Thelma and Louise" come into play
in the cinematics as well.
Russell Crowe, oh he of the pouty smirk, doesn't have
to smile much here, so he feels right at home. I felt
dirty when I began to care for his character. This is
an actor that thinks snot is Shakespeare. He tries so
dang hard. Gosh. How can we not think he is an "actor?"
Jaoquin Phoenix uses his harelip to his greatest advantage
and everyone else does pretty much what we expect them
to. All of the men, or most of them, have scars all
over their faces because they are warriors in the days
of swords and sandals. The only surprise is Connie Nielsen
as female lead. This is a role that would have been
given to Katherine Hepburn in her prime and she would
have shimmered in it. Nielsen, instead, downplays her
part so little that we could really care less. When
Phoenix begins to go overboard in the final reels, we
see why she would want to pretty much just curl up and
die. He is forced into a role that is nothing more than
cliche and he latches on to it with the fortitude of
a ham. Of course, it's a thankless role anyway.
Scott films the scenes with all the appropriate artiness.
His battle scenes have much sport in them. Theres lots
of blood and swords being slung around and flaming arrows
and decapitations and the like. If you go in for that
sort of ugliness, there will be plenty for you to adhere
to here. After that, you get lots of time-lapse cloudy
skies in fast motion so that you know the film is "art."
Scott's drama scenes are high drama. People talk like
they are mouthing important and Shakespearian dramaturge.
Everything, from action to drama is treated as "spectacle."
Only a few scenes glisten with any emotional truth.
Scott's establishing shots are the most obvious of
matte artistry and Industrial Light and Magic trickery.
Many of the special effects look phony. And many of
the numerous battle scenes are edited up with a butcher
knife so you can't see much of anything. If you cringe
at all the right moments, it looks pretty good. Eyes
wide open will only leave you thinking you blinked.
"Gladiator" has one major flaw or interesting thesis,
depending on your point of view. It vulgarizes the spectacle
of bloodsport in history and makes it appear brutal,
distasteful and disquieting. Of course, in the effort
to do this, it must present it in the modern day version
of bloodsport: the motion picture. Therefore the very
bloodlust in the historical audience that it decries
is the exact same modern day bloodlust that draws it's
modern film audience. See what I mean? It says that
all this killing for sport is wrong and immoral in a
way, and then presents a modern version of it, a gore-filled
cinematic bloodbath to prove it's point. The same ideal
that it criticizes is the archetype used to market the
film. This is a film that is made for men. Testosterone
practically drips from the silver screen. They'll need
a mop bucket at the megaplex to sop it up. And yet it
has the audacity to say that liking blood sport dehumanizes
men as a part of the human race. It's two- faced, in
a way.
More importantly, "Gladiator" reminds us that cinema
isn't exactly the only true modern descendent of the
spectacles at the Roman coliseum. Wrestling is more
it's modern day counterpoint. And fans of the WWF and
all it's incarnations will find plenty to like on the
screen in this film. Some things never change. Most
of them will not realize that their brutish passion
is being mocked anyway. Scott barely seems to realize
it himself.
Note:
Also with Richard Harris, Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi
and Oliver Reed.
Stephen Spielberg is one of the many producers of
the film. Music by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard.
The 1992 film "Gladiator" was about modern day boxing..
More
of Lodger's reviews indexed alphabetically! Just click
your favorite letter to go there.
a
b c
d e
f g
h i
j k
l m
n o
p q
r s
t u
v w
x y
z
HOME
|
In
Association with:
|
Posters From!
|
|
Please Visit 
|
|
