Gladiator: Review By Dan

Like A Beautiful Mind, Gladiator was also Russell Crowe in top form. Still the ultimate guy movie in my mind, Gladiator delivered the goods on a number of levels that brings a complete satisfaction to the experience of watching it's 2 and a half hour length.

Crowe is General Maximus Decimus Meridius, a much beloved commander in Caesar's army in during Ancient Roman times. As Caesar's son Commodus (played fiercely by Joaquin Phoenix) learns that Caesar intends to make Maximus the next emporer after his passing, Commodus sets into motion events that strip Maximus of title and condemn him to death, and slaying Maximus's family, out of jealously and spite, and taking the title of Caesar after murdering his father (which is historically inaccurate, as that Caesar actually died from plague, not murder). From there Maximus evades his death sentence, but is captured and put into a form of slavery as a gladiator, forced to fight in large arenas to the death. As he moves up in that world as a skilled fighter, he eventually makes it to Rome and has his political and highly personal showdown with the false Caesar.

While there was no General Maximus in real life, he certainly resembles Spartacus in a lot of ways, with being a slave that leads a revolt, and his general attitude. Crowe brings a mature, very cool performance here, one he hasn't really emulated well to me with all his later works besides A Beautiful Mind. Much should be said of Joaquin Phoenix's Commodus as well. He schemes, he plots, he deceives, he lies his way to the top, and his incestuous lust for his beautiful sister was very Caligula-like. Between this and Walk The Line, he was also at his finest. He has a dramatic gravitas that I believe.

What got me with this movie, much like Ben Hur, was the event spectator sport action. In Ben Hur, the chariot race is one of the most exhilarating moments in movie history, and still is to this day. It's so grand in scale that it demanded your attention. Much like that classic film, Gladiator is filled to the brim with sword and sandal action that will get your blood pumping with it's violent and awesome arena battles in a beautiful looking Ancient Rome and Coliseum.

I am also an Enya fan, so after watching one of the greatest dude movies ever followed by one of my favorite songs by her, that just totally made the movie even more epic for me.