Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000

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Lions and tigers and Crowe. Oh my. THE STORY (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**) Corrupt politicians. High-profile athletes. Bloodthirsty fans. No, it's not business as usual in modern-day America... It's 180 A.D; Maximus (Russell Crowe), fearless and beloved General in the Roman Empire, has had a hard two years and 234 days and one morning, and just wants to go home to his wife and son. But Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) has something else in mind for the General: declaring Maximus "the son I wish I'd had", Marcus wants Maximus to insure that Rome returns to public rule by taking interim control of the Empire until the Roman Senate can get it together enough to take over. This does not sit well with Marcus' actual son (and next-in-line for the Emperorship), the pampered Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix); feeling cheated out of his rightful place in life, he conspires against Marcus and Maximus, as well as his sister Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and her son Lucius (Spencer Treat Clark), and Senator Gracchus (Derek Jacobi) to become the next Emperor of Rome. Commodus [am I The Only One who can't help thinking of a toilet bowl when seeing that name in print?] does Bad Things that eventually lead to Maximus being made a gladiator-slave in the servitude of Proximo (Oliver Reed) who teaches Maximus and fellow gladiator-slave Juba (Djimon Hounsou) the rule-of-thumb of becoming a successful - that is, living - gladiator: "win the people, and you'll win your freedom". THE UPSHOT Hmmm...that shorthand synopsis sounds a bit soap-operaish, and in fact, elements of the story do bring in mind something along the lines of All My Decadent First-Century Children. And a soap isn't the only thing the storyline of Gladiator brings to mind; the movie reminded me of any number of things, from NFL players in a stadium, to the American Congress, to other movies (like, of all things, Kevin Costner's version of Robin Hood, and of course, classics like Ben Hur and Spartacus). But mostly, Gladiator reminded me just how brilliant and chameleon-like Russell Crowe is as an actor. It's breathtaking to watch Crowe so easily losing himself in his roles, while totally drawing the viewer in and keeping them believing; just as Crowe was the downtrodden, overweight, middle-aged protagonist in The Insider, he is equally convincing here as Maximus - about as far from Jeffrey Wigand as he could be. Yet, both characters have something in common: their sense of family and the need to make things right. And whether it's from under a business suit or a suit of armor, Crowe portrays those strong character traits skillfully. That said, the movie suffers most whenever Crowe is not involved in a scene. To be sure, most of the supporting cast is capable, if not strong - Richard Harris in his brief turn as the Emperor, Oliver Reed in a meatier role as Proximus, and Derek Jacobi's Gracchus, being standouts among them - but the movie seems to crawl along most noticeably in Crowe's absence, and when the action stops. That, and the difficult time I had believing that Commodus would last a day as Emperor [could he be more whiny?] or that Lucilla would suddenly become powerless and demure in the presence of her rather limp brother, threatened to wreak havoc with my suspension of disbelief...until Crowe showed up on the screen again, and everything was Made Right once more. And speaking of "action", director Ridley Scott pulled out all the stops to bring it to the audience, in full, bloody gore. The special effects are seamless and spectacular; never getting in the way of the story, it wasn't until the closing credits rolled that I remembered that so many of the background images were computer-generated. Effects alone doesn't pay the bills, though; and the interplay between Crowe and Nielsen, and Crowe and Phoenix, and Crowe and [insert castmember's name here] show the earmarks of good directing on Scott's part. The parallels in Gladiator with American politics were humorous - a leader would give power back to The People by empowering The Senate? bwah! - but those parallels also made it all the more easy to follow the plotline. And before the viewer has a chance to get comfortable with the humor, Scott and Crowe come back with a testosterone rush and get the adrenaline pumping again. Now that's how you kick-start a Summer movie season! BAMMER'S BOTTOM LINE Spectacular images, remarkable action, powerful scene-chewing by Russell Crowe in the lead - on top of a hit-and-miss story presented whenever he wasn't on-screen. Oh well; three outta four ain't bad... GLADIATOR:   back to top And that's the way I see it. Rose "Bams" Cooper 3BlackChicks Review™ Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com    ICQ: 7760005 http://www.3blackchicks.com/