‘Gladiator’ gets four thumbs up
By Jim Distasio
Community Editor

      “On my signal, unleash hell.”

     Sitting atop his battle-ready horse, Roman General Maximus (Russell Crowe) delivers his final command to the multitudes of Roman forces with a passion that lies somewhere between warrior and philosopher.

     Like its main character, Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” resides somewhere between philosophical character analysis and dynamic battlefield epic that unleashes hell upon its audience from its first shot, and doesn’t cease until the final credits roll.

     The $100 million “Gladiator” is being touted as the “first blockbuster” of the summer movie season with good reason—it has all of the potential elements that will ensure a healthy box-office return on the joint DreamWorks/Universal venture.

     But, audiences will be surprised to find out that “Gladiator” is really a $100 million art film.

     “Gladiator” is about brutal battles in the Colloseum.  It is about Roman armies attacking barbarians in the dense forests of Germania.  It is about the politics of tyranny.  It is about friendship and loyalty.  It is about human loss and suffering.

     The notion of human loss and suffering may surprise many moviegoers looking for a paint-by-the-numbers action movie.  “Gladiator” is a marvel of effective storytelling in its perfect balance of awe-inspiring set pieces and raw emotion.

     Scott, working with writers David H. Franzoni (“Amistad”) and Michael Logan (“Any Given Sunday”), crafts a story that intertwines both history and legend.

     Maximus, a loyal servant to emperor Marcus Aurelius, is prepared to return home to his wife and child after his service in Germania.  But, Aurelius’ intentions of Maximus succeeding him as emperor, doesn’t bode well for Maximus or Aurelius’ incestuous son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix).

     Fearing a threat to his power, Commodus betrays Maximus and sends him to his death.  Escaping his captors, Maximus returns home to find his wife and child slaughtered by Commodus’ forces.  Vowing revenge, Maximus is taken as a slave by the unlikely mentor Proximo (Oliver Reed, who died during filming, in a powerful performance) and forced to fight in the gladiator arena.

     Scott films the action in “Gladiator” with biting visual fury.  He uses the same film print process Steven Spielberg did in “Saving Private Ryan” to heighten the visceral nature of the armed combat, giving his footage a strobe effect that never allows the eyes enough time to settle on a single image. 

     Using enhanced CGI, the filmmakers provide a lush production design that plunges the audience into the stone heart of Rome’s Colosseum.  Racing chariots, vicious tigers and crowds of thousands are treated as mere visual trinkets by Scott who realizes that the emotional story is much more than a sandals-and-loincloth adventure movie.

     Scott effectively packages the film with memorable visions that will remain with you even after the film is over—the sight of thousands of flaming arrows grazing the sky like brightly glowing meteorites, the gladiators’ first entrance into the Colosseum and a solitary hand gently moving over fields of grain.

     Even with strong visuals from a legendary director, the film belongs to Crowe, who gives Maximus a sort of brutal humanity. A skilled soldier who’d much rather live as a farmer, Maximus is a character filled with tenderness, but has no qualms to dispense with an enemy on the battlefield or defend himself in the arena.

     Working with a talented ensemble cast, Crowe’s performance isn’t really defined by the power he wields when fighting in the arena, but in the little character nuances that appear throughout the film.

     Crowe’s eyes reveal Maximus’ humanity when he’s talking to fellow gladiator and slave Juba, played by “Amistad’s” Djimon Honsou.  They’ve both spilled blood, but realize that they are ordinary men thrust into extraordinary circumstances.

     However, those human eyes turn to ice when Maximus encounters Commodus.  Staring blankly into Commodus’ eyes, we are able to see everything that is going through Maximus’ mind and feel the fear swelling inside Commodus.

     Much of that effect is supplied by Phoenix who makes Commodus appear perpetually uncomfortable, a man constantly paranoid and insecure, the total opposite of Maximus. 

     Due to a strong performance, “Gladiator” will be a seminal movie for Crowe.  Critics hailed his turn in the largely unseen “The Insider,” but “Gladiator” will most likely cement Crowe into the collective conscious of the movie-going public.

     “Gladiator” isn’t only a watershed for Crowe, but for epic moviemaking in general.  It finally proves that it is possible to create a spectacle that both entertains and challenges its audience—a piece of artistic cinema that crackles with pure energy.

 Grade: A