Member review

The famous line uttered by the Roman Emperor Commodus, is a question that I find myself pondering the answer to after watching the 2000 Movie Gladiator Directed by the Acclaimed Director of Alien and Blade Runner Ridley Scott.

Now this movie is no doubt a well-crafted piece, with fantastic performances from Russell Crow and Joaquin Pheonix in particular, perfect period-accurate set design that makes a history-buff like me incredibly happy, the costumes are of a similar quality and continue to impress the history nerd within me, soundtrack, but despite all of this I still find myself questioning whether I enjoyed the film or not.

The Plot follows the formerly powerful Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius who was betrayed by the Emperor Roman Commodus, who enslaved him. His family ends up being murdered, but eventually he works his way up and becomes a Gladiator, driven by his need for Revenge. Although as much as this is a pretty excellent plot, it is sadly incredibly predictable within the film. Luckily the characters are where the film really found it’s strive, as the struggle of Maximus is truly amazing to witness and really makes the film. As I said earlier, the performance Russell Crowe pulls off really shows how he is really is one of the all-time greats, and makes you truly invested in the character and his journey for revenge. And when it comes to the Roman Emperor Commodus, Joaquin Pheonix pulls off an utterly sadistic and bloodthirsty villain who you hate intensely by the end of the movie.

But when it comes to whether I enjoyed the film or not, I struggle to choose a side, because whilst I love for example the action scenes, such as when we get to witness the Roman Legion fighting the Germanic Tribes at the start of the film, the film really struggles in the middle, it’s as if it hits a road block because it kind of assumes the audience is stupider than it is, because everyone and their Nan knows where the film is headed, a confrontation between Maximus and Commodus, but due to the fact the runtime is 2 hours and 50 minutes or so, the film has to stretch itself out and it makes for tedious viewing. But even the battle I mentioned from the start of the movie really annoys me, as it is not historically accurate. In particular Maximus speaks just absolute rubbish during this battle that makes no historical sense. It makes me seethe with anger in that way. The scene is good on a surface level in how enjoyable it as a scene in a movie, but if you remember this is supposed to be a historical movie, it just ruins any fun or entertainment that scene provides.

At the end of the day, I would say the film is a fairly competent production, that is made by the performances within it. If you’re a history-buff outside of set design and costumes, you’d be better off watching an episode of Horrible Histories to learn about this time period (not a riff on Horrible Histories by any means).