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Winner May '00

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Gladiator

Posted by: Lyricai

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First off, if you haven't seen Gladiator, pay full price for a night showing in a theater. It's more than worth it. This is perhaps the best film I have seen since American Beauty and The Matrix.

Technical Review

The battle scenes that so many are complaining about are perfect in my opinion. Yes, they are a confusing, testosterone based mesh of images, but that's the closest approximation to running at an enraged barbarian with nothing but a piece of metal and plank of wood (if you're lucky) to keep your limbs and organs in proper functioning order and place. This same quick-cut, hand held technique was used for shooting the battle scenes of Saving Private Ryan and we all heard about how realistic the WWII vets said those scenes were. If that's the closest to being in war I ever come, I will count myself lucky.

Another fine film technique that I think (not entirely sure about this one) was employed was in the type of film stock they used for this picture. I could be mistaken, but I believe they actually used still picture camera film to make this movie. I know this was done on We Three Kings and it was done specifically to provide dense color saturation. The colors seemed vibrant and rich to me despite the fact that they weren't bright. There's so much color information that if I didn't have some idea it could be done without a computer I would swear every single frame of the film had gone for a dip in the CG Enhancement Pool. I'd have to watch the two films back to back to be certain. As ironic as it sounds the dense color without the brightness behind it gave the film a marked feel of antiquity, as though I watched something that's thousands of years old.

Artistic Review:

Score

The interesting thing about the score to me was its reflection of the breadth of the Roman Empire. We heard a score that was always sweeping in scope, but which reflected the location of the action at the moment. In this very subtle way, it is patriotic in that Rome is revealed as a melting pot of cultures much like America is today. This ties in very nicely with the Theme, which I discuss a little further on in my review.

Acting

Of course all of the name actors did a wonderful job, but I was particularly impressed with the acting of the child. (I apologize, I don't know the actor's name). Simple and understated in style, the qualities this child incorporates into his performance is what made the majority of the plot work. Unfortunately, there were so many names attached to this, I am afraid he will be overlooked.

Story/Theme

To say this is a revenge story would be to simplify it too much. Russell Crowe's motivation is revenge, but all of the characters have a clearly defined motive that makes for both conflict and a character driven plot, so that, there is a reason for the fighting and a justification of the special effects used. Yes, the story runs a little long, but we are rewarded by the character development that you can't get in a shorter length film. Movies have been getting longer and longer since the Writer's Strike in the late 80's, but they've also gotten better and better, and I offer Gladiator to you now as proof. The real struggle of this film as symbolized by Joaquim Phoenix and Crowe is a battle between Tyranny and Democracy-a very American theme, but also a very human one which ensures that the story uplifts as well as entertains.

Direction

It's Ridley Scott, for crying out loud. 'Nuff said.

Go See This Film! What I've said about it doesn't do it justice.

- Lyricai

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