Gladiator

Rating:
Summary: Can't say enough good stuff about this film!!!
Review: This film is amazing!!! If you haven't seen I would HIGHLY recommend this one!!! It is one of my all time favorite films!! The acting, filmaking, music, etc. is so stunning!!! Best of all it has a phenomenal storyline/plot!!!! It is so good!! I would definitely buy this one! It is one of those movie you want to own and see again and again!!!! Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, and Connie Nielsen do amazing jobs!!! All the sets and filmaking and music is phenomenal!!! Hans Zimmer does an amazing job bringing a Roman sounding score to the screen! Ridely Scott did a fantastic directing job with this movie!!!!
This movie is a must-see!!!

Rating:
Summary: The spectacle that it should be
Review: I hadn't seen this movie when it came out in theaters (yes, I know, that was me, the one single person who actually didn't go see it). Finally got around to renting the double-disc dvd and am blown away by it. Much has already been said in praise (rightly so), of Ridley's direction, (superb, no one does it better), the effects (unbelievably good looking, in all respects; they may have not built Rome in a day, but came pretty damn close); the lighting, the score, the action/battle/coliseum scenes, the costuming, all of it magnificent and appropriately sweeping and grandiose. For me, however, its' the acting that makes the movie. Russell Crowe as Maximus is terrific, (particularly in the more sensitive aspects of his character, as when he dreams of home and family); and everyone else, including Richard Harris in his final role, fantastic; even the child actor, Spencer Clark, as heir to the throne Lucius, does a nice job in tunic and English accent. For me, though, the scene stealer was Joaquin Phoenix as the arrogant, jealous, incestuous, chilling, pathetic, wholly mad Emperor Commodus. We can see his health and grip on sanity decline as the movie progresses; his pallor becomes more and more pasty, his eyes become more and more sunken with dark circles beneath as his hold on Rome slips, and his paranoia and irrationality grow. The infamous "Busy bees/AM I NOT MERCIFUL????!!!!" scene really sends shivers!

I also wanted to comment on the extras included in the double disc set on the dvds. There are some great features on this. My favorites are the behind-the-scenes specials, detailing the special effects, the fight choreography, the architecture, the history of the gladiator games, etc. There are interviews with many of the creative folks involved, including with most of the actors, and they are all delighted to be doing what they doing, most of them playing around and joking in the interviews. (Russell Crowe laughs about being so close to live tigers in some of the arena scenes, and then being told he shouldn't play a "girlie-game" like soccer because of the risk involved; Joaquin Phoenix told of riding into the coliseum via chariot, as Ceaser Commodos, waving to the crowd in a "regal" manner, all the while thinking "Who am I kidding, I'm from Florida".) It's little insights like that which makes it that much more interesting, at least for me.


My favorite part of the bonus material is a written movie journal by the young actor Spencer Clark; the child really is very bright and articulate and I was impressed with his descriptions of the filming process and life as a child actor. He's really quite observant and insightful and made friends with everyone on the set. His reactions to what was going on around him, the enormity of it all, with the same kind of excitement and fascination that us laymen probably would. I liked his behind the scene pictures too, including of Crowe and family and "mates" at a cricket match/barbecue, and teaching Spencer some naughty limericks. (Spencer got him back later with some of his own.) He teased Phoenix about his costume being a "dress", and also commented on a scene he filmed with Phoenix and himself where a sword Phoenix as Commodus was leaning on slipped, and Phoenix was professional enough to continue with the scene with a straight face and saved the take. He was so into the character, so intense, that that little mistake made it into the movie and it seemed "right", somehow. These kinds of things can't be scripted, they happen by accident and can either be a ruined take or add a tiny nuance to the character. Spencer Clark was very impressed with Joaquin, and so was I (even more so!) upon learning this little tidbit.

The dvd earns the five stars I've given it. Wow, is all I can add.

Watch the movie, enjoy the extras. This is a good one, a rare one. Highly recommended.