Gladiator (2000)
To begin with; The music.
This was one of the first scores I ever bought, and since buying it I don't think it's ever been absent from any portable media device I've ever owned. It's my favourite score from one of my favourite movie composers. The frantic, almost overwhelming cacophony of "The Battle", coming so close on after the slow and soothing tones of "The Wheat". It's a frantic jump between extremes in a way that I love.
And then there's the movie itself. From a relatively simple story, Scott spins a 2 1/2 hour epic that goes by in the blink of an eye. I don't know how many times I've watched this (I never got to see it on the big screen, damn 15 rating) but it never gets any less entertaining or powerful. The fight scenes (while hihgly coregraphed) flows with a smoothness of motion that's rarely seen outside martial arts movies, while the opening set piece of the battle is a chaos of moveing men, machines and animals all bent on utter distruction.
Among the actors, I do believe my favourite to be Oliver Reed. It takes some real gravitas to speak the lines about the giraffes and still come off as threatening. Most of the cast is putting in a great performance, beginning with both Richard Harris and Derek Jacobi and ending with a highly entertaining performance from Joaquin Phoenix. His portrayal of Commodus is a big part of the movies appeal, and with a more reserved actor I don't think the movie would've been as good. I've been thinking on who could even do an aproximation of Commodus, and what comes up is Malcolm McDowell's performance as Caligula from 1979. Whlie still acting mad, I don't think McDowell had the same frenetic energy and intense precence that Phoenix has, so it would sill be a lesser role. No one can match Phoenix for intensity, eh Vicky?
Not to disparage our hero, this is one of my favourite performances from Russell Crowe. Mind you, I said favourite, not best. He is stoic in this, I'll grant that (except in the scene where he finds his wife and son, he goes all to ***** there), but he still has scenes throughout where he emotes more than showing a blank face. He laughs with the other gladiators, he's gentle with Lucilla and he's friendly with Lucien, so stoic at times, but not as to be the defining characteristic of the role.
A genuinely thrilling and entertaining epic that I'm still waiting to have re-released in the cinema so that I can acctually experience it on the big screen (come on, Universal,
DO IT!!!).
As far as the Oscars is concerned, of the nominated movies, Gladiator is the clear winner for me, but there were movies during 2000 that weren't nominated that could've beaten it. Still, it earned it.