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Gladiator (2000)
I'd only seen this once and that was first run in the theater years ago. At that time I loved it and I've been wanting to rewatch it for the longest time. And so I finally did...
I find myself surprised that I didn't love it this time around. I don't have any real problems with the movie and it was fine for what it did. It's just that in all those years my movie taste has changed considerably and what I once liked in movies, I no longer do.
Gladiator delivers on visual spectacle and fight sequences, as one would expect from a Ridley Scott film. But I've never been into action movies or martial art films so the fighting sequences were meh for me, especially the opening fight scene. I hate that filming style of reduced frame rate, fast edits and close ups, it makes me dizzy. That technique is used to shoot a lot of fights in movies and it just feels unsatisfying to me.
Ridley Scott doesn't really focus on the underlying story. Oh sure he alludes to it and the premise of an aging caesar who wished to restore Rome to the people by restoring power to the Senate....while his son grabs power and seeks to do just the opposite, would seem to be a powerful subject, but Ridley doesn't go into that deep enough. I wanted more palace intrigue and less elephants and giraffes. Ridley loves his production design, but here it gets in the way of the story.
This time around I actually rooted for Joaquin Phoenix to win! Sure he was insecure, manipulative and incestuous...and that made him interesting. Joaquin rocks his role and was the most interesting thing in the movie.
Russell Crowe was uninteresting to me in this, just too stoic. I ended up not liking him so when all this bad stuff happens to him, I didn't even care. I was thinking what could Commodus do to get rid of him once and for all!
Like I said, I didn't hate it, but I had a hard time getting through the 2 1/2 hours, as it felt like a 90 minute story to me.
Gladiator (2000)
Director: Ridley Scott
Writers: David Franzoni (story), David Franzoni (screenplay)
Cast: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Writers: David Franzoni (story), David Franzoni (screenplay)
Cast: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
"When a Roman General is betrayed, and his family murdered by an emperor's corrupt son, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge."
I'd only seen this once and that was first run in the theater years ago. At that time I loved it and I've been wanting to rewatch it for the longest time. And so I finally did...
I find myself surprised that I didn't love it this time around. I don't have any real problems with the movie and it was fine for what it did. It's just that in all those years my movie taste has changed considerably and what I once liked in movies, I no longer do.
Gladiator delivers on visual spectacle and fight sequences, as one would expect from a Ridley Scott film. But I've never been into action movies or martial art films so the fighting sequences were meh for me, especially the opening fight scene. I hate that filming style of reduced frame rate, fast edits and close ups, it makes me dizzy. That technique is used to shoot a lot of fights in movies and it just feels unsatisfying to me.
Ridley Scott doesn't really focus on the underlying story. Oh sure he alludes to it and the premise of an aging caesar who wished to restore Rome to the people by restoring power to the Senate....while his son grabs power and seeks to do just the opposite, would seem to be a powerful subject, but Ridley doesn't go into that deep enough. I wanted more palace intrigue and less elephants and giraffes. Ridley loves his production design, but here it gets in the way of the story.
This time around I actually rooted for Joaquin Phoenix to win! Sure he was insecure, manipulative and incestuous...and that made him interesting. Joaquin rocks his role and was the most interesting thing in the movie.
Russell Crowe was uninteresting to me in this, just too stoic. I ended up not liking him so when all this bad stuff happens to him, I didn't even care. I was thinking what could Commodus do to get rid of him once and for all!
Like I said, I didn't hate it, but I had a hard time getting through the 2 1/2 hours, as it felt like a 90 minute story to me.