Gladiator DVD: Review By samtertainment

WARNING - DURING MY REVIEW I MAY GIVE AWAY SOME SPOILERS, BE WARY...

The great Roman General Maximus (Russell Crowe) has once again led the legions to victory on the battlefield.The war won, Maximus dreams of home, wanting only to return to his wife and son; however, the dying Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) has one more duty for the General - to assume the mantle of his power.

Jealous of Maximus' favor with the Emperor, the Caesar's son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), orders his execution and that of his family.Barely escaping death, Maximus is forced into slavery and trained as a Gladiator in the arena, where his fame grows.Known simply as "the Spaniard", his fame has brought him to Rome, and now he is intent on avenging the death of his wife and son by killing the new Emperor...Commodus.

Maximus has learned that the one power stronger than that of the Caesar's the will of the people, and he knows he can only attain his revenge by becoming the greatest hero in all the empire...

The Good - Grandeur, spectacle, bloody battles, political intrigue, a mad ruler and an avenging hero; for millenia these have been the main ingredients in the making of great epic story. These ingredients were used to the fullest during Hollywood's Golden Age of epics, the 1960s.After that few movies (Braveheart comes to mind) have applied that formula...until 2000. There's another ingredient, by the way, present in those epic movies of the late fifties and sixties that were absent since - the epics took place during the heights of the Roman Empire. In this sense, Gladiator is a throwback to the old days, and a very good one.

There are many things working well for this movie: visual effects, sound, directing, music, and *gasp* even the script. The visual effects are impressive, and on my first viewing of this movie in the theater it was the thing that impressed me the most. The Colosseum looks great, Rome in general looks great, and some battle sequences that were helped out by CGI effects looked great. Visually, another thing that I liked a lot was the dark atmosphere the film had, specifically in the first act of the movie in Germania. The film seemed to be "coated" in blue during these scenes, and, for me at least, it worked really well. You had the impression it was always cloudy and that a storm was coming...and indeed a storm came, at least for Maximus.

Ridley Scott did a superb job directing the movie, and I wonder why he wasn't given more credit for his work on this film. The story, despite being about a gladiator engaging in bloody combat, flowed sometimes poetically from one scene to the next. One of these scenes was the very first one, where you see Maximus' hand passing through a wheat field, with child laughter in the background; that's the very same scene that plays at the end, when Maximus dies - thus his death was foreshadowed in the very first scene. After that you go to the battle fields, and soon a battle rages, all this in sharp contrast to the peacefulness just prior to it. There are many foreshadowing scenes after that, in which you see and hear what is to become of our hero.

Hans Zimmer's score for this movie is, by far, his best work. Not that he hadn't scored great music prior and after Gladiator, but this is his peak. This is Zimmer's Star Wars. You don't get better than this, you can only equal from now on. His waltz for the battle sequences (often criticized for being very similar to Holtz's The Planets) was perfect for the scenes. So was his Wagnerian piece "The Might of Rome", where the newly crowned Emperor Commodus returns to his city, happy with his new toy (Rome) despite the booing of the people. The "Earth" theme settles the perfect atmosphere for the film's more mystical and spiritual parts, namely Maximus' death. And let's not forget Lisa Gerrard, who also composed some pieces for the music, most notably "Sorrow", played during the scene where Maximus desperately returns home to discover that his family has been cruxified.

And then there's the script.

Yep, it was a good script. I wasn't overly impressed by it first time I watched the movie, but for a summer blockbuster you can see that the screenplay writers actually took the time to develop a good story.

The Bad - Yes, it was a good script. But not a flawless one.

Maximus fighting Commodus in the arena at the end? Halfway through the movie I was wondering how in God's name could Maximus get out of the hole he was in; fifteen minutes to go in the movie I had found my answer: the writers didn't know either. So the obvious solution is for Commodus to challenge Maximus in the arena (with a little cheating) to gain back the people's favor. Although the real Commodus fought in gladiator games - against animals, and with some advantage - it was hard to visualize this Caesar doing such a stupid thing. The character was great, but even for an immature Commodus it was out of character. Or he was just really desperate.

Disc 1

This disc contains the movie itself as well as the director's commentary (in this case aided by two guys whom I forgot who were they) and three other audio tracks of the movie itself (DTS, Dolby Digital, and Dolby Surround). The commentary by director Ridley Scott, who speaks most of the time, it's not the most entertaining one but it does give good insight into his own vision of the film, as well as some interesting details of the production. The picture quality is great, except perhaps when its credits time; the credits are hard to see.

Disc 2

"HBO First Look" Making of - The standard "making of" featurette, though it's an interesting one.

Learning Channel's "The Bloodsport of a Gladiator" - This is the best featurette of the DVD, as the first 45 minutes explore the world of the gladiators, their history and customs. The last five minutes are a Gladiator promo.

Scoring Gladiator - An interview with Hans Zimmer on scoring the film. Obviously, such a masterpiece of movie scoring deserved its own featurette. Let's hope the original Star Wars trilogy DVDs get the same treatment *crosses fingers*.

Spencer Treat Clark's diary - For those who hate to read text in a DVD I tell you from now avoid this feature. But for those who, like me, don't mind reading through pages and pages of text in a disc, I recommend this. This is a journal written by actor Spencer Treat Clark (the boy "Lucius") on his experience with the movie. It is well written, and has interesting stories of the production.

Deleted Scenes - This is a set of deleted scenes that is actually worth watching. What's best, you have the option of watching them with or without commentary by Ridley Scott. What's even better, there is a specially created montage of unused footage called the Treasure Chest which is really worth watching AND listening to(contains music from the picture).

Concept art & storyboards - You want to have a look at what they were thinking of before starting to film? Check this.

Photo galleries - This doesn't need any explanation (meaning it's self-explanatory).

Trailers & TV Spots - I love the trailers. 'Nuff said.

Production Notes - You know the little booklet that comes with the DVD case? Exactly that's what's written here.

Gladiator is my favorite movie. The music's great. The directing's great. The acting's great (umm, I forgot to mention the acting...add that to The Good part, all actors deliver great performances, specially Crowe and Phoenix). The story's good. And it is about the Roman Empire. I have a thing for all things Roman Empire. That's why I like Ben Hur(which is a good movie in its own right). Why I like Spartacus. Even why I like that Xena: Warrior Princess episode where she and Gabrielle are cruxified (though that's Roman Republic, which I also love). So maybe I'm a little biased by that, but still this is a great movie. Not great enough to win Best Picture at the Oscars, which it did, but good enough to be nominated. The DVD package, though not the most packed of them all, is very satisfying. This was my first DVD, and I'm proud it was the first. It's my favorite movie, after all, and the extra features deliver.

So, in case you haven't got the idea yet, I'll be more precise: if you don't have this DVD, pray ten Hail Marys for your sins and then proceed to BUY IT.