Ridley Scott (best known for
Alien, Blade Runner and G.I. Jane) has done it again. This time, he made a gladiator movie, and a movie so good that it already has a reserved spot on my top ten list.
It's 180 A.D., The Roman army, under the command of General Maximus (Russell Crowe), is conquering Germania. Caeser Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) doesn't have much longer to live so he decides that Maximus will rule Rome and make it a republic again. This doesn't make Caeser's son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) very happy so he kills his father before he makes the announcement.
And now Commodus orders Maximus to be killed. But Maximus is a great fighter and escapes from his men's clutches. He goes back home only to find his wife and son dead. Then he is captured and sold to Proximo (Oliver Reed-- who died near the end of filming), who trains gladiators. He becomes a great gladiator but will he be ever be able to rule Rome?
The movie has some excellent action scenes, as you would expect. The action scenes are never boring.
The performances are also very good. Russell Crowe does a very good job and we really root him on. Pheonix makes a good villian and we grow to hate him from what he has done. Oliver Reed also pulls off a good performance in his last role and Djimon Hounsou (Amistad) is also good as a fellow slave.
The film got very close to getting four stars and this is one of the best films of the year. Expect this film to be near the top on my top ten list at the end of the year. Until then, see this movie for yourself and enjoy it.
