2000--Gladiator, Ridley Scott

 

2000—Gladiator, Ridley Scott

Nominated: Chocolat, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Erin Brockovich, Traffic

Should have won: Shadow of the Vampire

Be sure to see: Battle Royale, The Cell, Chicken Run, Final Destination

“I'm required to kill so I kill. That's enough.”--Maximus Meridious

     With movies like Alien, Black Hawk Down, and Blade Runner, it seems a little off to me that Gladiator would be the Ridley Scott movie to capture the best picture Oscar. I've put off seeing the movie for years. It didn't appeal to me and it got to a point where I had a stubborn streak going where I just didn't want to see it simply for the sake of not seeing it. Once it occurred to me I had to see it to complete this list I surrendered. In a shameless segue, surrendering is something the movie's hero would never do.

     In the year 180 General Maximus Decimus Meridius is named keeper of Rome by the emperor. The emperor's son, Commodus, has other plans. Upon returning home, Maximus finds his wife and son have been murdered. Commodus kills his father, enslaves Maximus,and turns him over to a gladiator trader. Oliver Reed plays the trader and I could hardly recognize him as I compared him to his Curse of the Werewolf role and another best picture winner Oliver! as the nasty Bill Sikes. The remainder of the film is one grueling battle after another with enslaved gladiators fighting trained warriors to the death in front of cheering spectators. But all the while the heart of the picture remains the same: Maximus simply wants to go home. At least that is what the filmmakers say in the commentary. I might argue his goal is to avenge his family's murder since there is nobody to go home to. But, hey, who am I to argue with the creators?

     Though the heart is there, I felt the movie was more of a popcorn movie. The opening battle tries to outdo Braveheart but doesn't succeed. Visually it was fine but the sound editing was extremely cliché. Not that I blame the movie for that, most movies with knives or swords are guilty of it. You know what I mean, the sound of the blade slicing against metal even though it is just sitting there or being held. Another big scene was also lifted from one of the most exciting sequences in movie history, incidentally another best picture winner. In one of the battle scenes, there are horses and chariots carrying warriors armed with bows and arrows that whip around the arena, sometimes flipping dangerously out of control. This scene was very exciting but it was clearly lifted right out of 1959's winner Ben-Hur, a far superior movie. But it was still my favorite scene, mainly because of the carnage, particularly when one of the archers is cut in half. But pay particular attention to the scene you will notice a camera man in the chariot. In fact in the scene where Maximus taunts the crowd for being entertained at the violence, there is a cameraman in a t-shirt standing in the stands. There were many errors in the movie outside of continuity. I never hold continuity errors against a movie because every movie, no matter how prestigious, has them. But crew members getting into the shot is inexcusable and this movie had a lot. I went back and confirmed with imdb's goofs page and found I wasn't mistaken and saw they found more I hadn't noticed. But one of the biggest goofs is a factual error. In the film, Commodus gives a thumbs up to indicate he wanted the gladiator to live. This gesture actually meant death. A thumb up meant “kill” while a thumb down meant “put down your sword”. This is something Ridley Scott should have looked into.

     The performances were pretty good but I expected more out of Djimon Hounsou. This was only three years after Amistad (the snubbed movie that should have won for 1997), and his presence on screen should have been more powerful and prevalent. But, ultimately, he was forgotten. I found there was a deleted scene where Maximus fights a rhinoceros that could have been remarkable. It was scrapped because it would have cost an extra million dollars. I was also confused on why Maximus was known around the circuit as “the Spaniard” even though he was a white guy with an Australian accent. But the movie takes place 1,820 years before it was made. Maybe people in Spain talked that way in 180; I'm no historian. And it certainly is the bloodiest winner in history. It seems fitting to compare this movie to Ben-Hur because of the subject matter and to Braveheart because of the battles, bravery of the hero, and the closeness in the release years. If it is fair to do this, Gladiator pales in comparison to both. It was a fun movie with a good theme and exciting, bloody action. But ultimately it was a popcorn movie for me and certainly not best picture material. Jennifer Lopez' The Cell and a movie about the making of 1922's Nosferatu called Shadow of the Vampire are much better in every way.