Ridley Scott’s Gladiator tells a fictional story about Roman general Maximus (Russell Crowe) whose loyalty to ailing Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) results in his downfall when Marcus’s son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) comes to power against Marcus’s wishes. The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, because of the epic action sequences and the re-creation of ancient Rome by Scott and his crew.
Buy Gladiator (Sapphire Series) Blu-rayAfter Maximus leads the Roman army in a successful campaign against Germanic barbarians (in a spectacularly executed battle sequence), he wants to retire his commission and return to his wife and young son. This disappoints Marcus who wishes Maximus would stay in Rome to help the transition of power to the Roman Senate because Marcus has no faith in Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) as a leader.
Commodus proves his father right by murdering him and taking the mantle of Emperor. Maximus refuses to recognize him. Declared treasonous, Maximus is sentenced for execution. Being a great fighter, he escapes his captors and heads home, only to find his family dead. From his sustained injuries, Maximus passes out and is sold into slavery to gladiator trainer Proximo (Oliver Reed).
Maximus, along with Proximo’s other gladiators, is brought to fight in the Colosseum. He seeks vengeance against Commodus but has to stay alive in the arena, which grows increasingly difficult. There’s an engaging group battle sequence where the gladiators learn to trust Maximus’s instincts. Maximus then has a solo fight against a great gladiator, which is made more dangerous by the inclusion of tigers in the ring but the tension is lost from the obvious digital effects. Every time Maximus succeeds, he grows in popularity with the people, to the detriment of Commodus.
Maximus is assisted by Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), his former lover and Commodus’s sister. She doesn’t trust her brother but has to act stealthily to keep her young son Lucius safe. She arranges a meeting with Senator Gracchus (Derek Jacobi), who commits the Senate to Maximus’s fight, but will they all be able to elude the rightfully paranoid Commodus and his supporters?
Between the action sequences, Gladiator‘s Oscar-nominated screenplay by David Franzoni, John Logan, and William Nicholson offers good plot twists as the story of palace intrigue progresses. The cast portrays the characters well. Unfortunately, they aren’t given much depth or complexity, so they never waver from their first introduction. If one seeks a movie about good triumphing over evil, Gladiator is your champion.
