FILM REVIEW: Gladiator

"Well, there is a really cool chariot battle!"

Gladiator has somehow garnered adulation. It snagged the Oscar for Best Picture, which I find interesting but the Academy Awards have generally followed a logic I cannot grasp. It made lots of money, and collected a lot of critical acclaim. But even after watching it (twice), I steadfastly stick to my conclusion that Gladiator is not a great movie...not even a good one.

Gladiator holds promise for a heroic story with a liberal dosing of Classical-Era battles. In the end, I am left with a feeling that the film is a blatant retread of Braveheart and other more successful varieties of the "hero fighting for freedom and revenge" plot. Our hero, Maximus, spouts several turgid speeches that sound like Braveheart-lite, and his lack of emotional power render his recitations tepid and uninspiring. Maximus' forgettable dearth of emotionalized feeling when his family is mercilessly slaughtered is really pathetic. Crowe's entire role is too halfhearted (he won the Best Actor Oscar!), helped little by the cheesy script. Don't even get me started on the implicit affection between Maximus and the emperor's sister, which was so contrived as to be painful.

The battle scenes are ambitious in their orchestration, but ultimately they are filmed poorly thanks to erratic camera movement that forsake clarity or the exhilarating involvement of, say, Saving Private Ryan, where the chaos is internalized with the camera technique. Admittedly, the chariot battle is stunning, with its genuine sense of urgency that the filmmakers captured here. But why didn't they do it for the rest of the movie? It doesn't help that the different battles seem like disparate events unforgivingly adhered to an existing story line to add violent physical conflict. Like when he fights while surrounded by tigers, it doesn't seem cool or interesting, it just seems like they said, "It would be cool if there were TIGERS in this movie!" What Maximus is fighting for becomes unclear amidst the series of battles, which lack fiery emotional intensity that SHOULD be present when someone is fighting for freedom and revenege. One area that deserves accolade is the incredible sound. All around, you can hear arrows whiz by, the cacophony of clashing steel, and anguished screams. Very impressive!

And then comes the big kick in the face: the woeful anticlimax. I won't go into detail, but prepare to be disappointed. Suffice to say, Maximus becomes a martyr, but what did he accomplish? Bad, regurgitated speeches? Passionless action? Great work!

Gladiator may have been a better movie if it had been thirty minutes shorter, cut out the sordid insinuations of romance, and had more chariot battles. But when you're making a big Hollywood blockbuster, you've gotta have reams of dross (cheesiness, lame insinuated love interest) to guarantee it sells.