Gladiator

GLADIATOR (15)

D: Ridley Scott

Universal/Dreamworks/Scott Free (Douglas Wick, David Franzoni & Branko Lustig)

USA 🇺🇸 2000

154 mins

Adventure/Historical

W: David Franzoni, John Logan & William Nicholson

DP: John Mathieson

Ed: Pietro Scalia

Mus: Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard

PD: Arthur Max

Cos: Janty Yates

Russell Crowe (Maximus Decimus Meridias), Joaquin Phoenix (Commodus), Connie Nielsen (Lucilla), Oliver Reed (Proximo), Derek Jacobi (Gracchus), Djimon Hounsou (Juba), Richard Harris (Marcus Aurelius), David Schofield (Falco), John Shrapnel (Gaius), Tomas Arana (Quintus), Ralf Moeller (Hagan), Spencer Treat Clark (Lucius)

In the times of the Roman Empire, a general is betrayed by a tyrannical Emperor and sold into slavery, where he fights for his freedom and, ultimately, revenge.

Gladiator is a lavish, spectacular epic which revitalised a dormant genre and captured the hearts & minds of many, and while it's a magnificently produced piece of work, it's not quite the champion it's hailed as being, and certainly not deserving of the heaps of Oscars praised upon it. Firstly, it's at least half-an-hour too long, mostly due to an elongated start and a few narrative drags towards the end of the second act. The performances are generally good, but this is far from Russell Crowe's best work (the Australian accent doesn't help), while Joaquin Phoenix is incredibly hammy- which he only gets away with because the character calls for it, but the best performance on show goes to Oliver Reed, with his final screen portrayal and arguably his finest ever performance.

Visually, the recreation of Ancient Rome, the Colisseum and all aspects of the production are brilliantly reconstructed and photographed, although some effects aren't quite as convincing (the scenes involving tigers are a good example), but all the technical achievements are generally top notch, especially the stirring music by Hans Zimmer, with haunting vocal arrangements by Lisa Gerrard.

8/10

GLADIATOR II (15)

D: Ridley Scott

Paramount / Scott Free / Red Wagon (Ridley Scott, Michael Pruss, Douglas Wick, Lucy Fisher & David Franzoni)

UK/US 🇬🇧🇺🇸 2024

148 mins

Action/Adventure/Historical

W: David Scarpa & Peter Craig [based on characters created by David Franzoni]

DP: John Mathieson

Ed: Claire Simpson & Sam Restivo

Mus: Harry Gregson-Williams

PD: Arthur Max

Cos: Janty Yates & David Crossman

Paul Mescal (Lucius “Hanno” Aurelius), Pedro Pascal (General Acacius), Connie Nielsen (Lucilla), Denzel Washington (Macrinus), Joseph Quinn (Emperor Geta), Fred Hechinger (Emperor Caracalla)

A sequel to the 2000 Best Picture Oscar winner which the audiences weren’t exactly clamouring for, even if a follow up had been in the works since the original film was a huge success upon release.

This is just as much a remake as it is a sequel, with Paul Mescal stepping into Russell Crowe’s shoes as Lucius, the son of Maximus, exiled from Rome as a boy following the events in the first film and now living, many years later, in the African Kingdom of Numidia with his wife, who is killed when a Roman army invades and takes him capture.

He is subsequently taken in by Macrinus (Denzel Washington), who owns a gladiator stable and has his own desires for power. Lucius fights for his chance of taking revenge against the General who led the invasion against his home, emulating his father during combat in the colosseum.

While the film does have a lot to marvel at, some of the action scenes try a little too hard to one-up the predecessor, almost to the point of parody as the gladiators take on feral monkeys (that look nothing like real monkeys that have ever existed on Earth) and even a sea battle within the colosseum with small galleons & shark-infested waters. Entertaining enough they may be, but its also a little too science fiction for what is supposedly a historical action-adventure. Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and the rest of the cast are fine, but Denzel Washington is the true standout, taking command of every single scene that he’s in. The film does go quite fast at 148 minutes, though some of the narrative feels choppy, as though some important scenes and some character development were cut out to keep this below 180 minutes.

The links to the previous film are quite tenuous, and whilst this is an entertaining sword & sandals epic, it just isn’t in the same amphitheater as the 2000 film.

6/10