Gladiator (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 2000; vuoden 2010 painos)

Par son ampleur, son ambition assez démesurée mais maîtrisée, les moyens déployés à la reconstitution de l'antiquité romaine et de ses folies, la beauté sans faille de la personnalité de son héros, la force des images, son histoire (qui prend de sérieuses libertés avec l'Histoire, mais on s'en moque puisque c'est pour servir la cause d'un art louable), Gladiator est un film somptueux.
Une véritable réussite.
A voir et à revoir (est-ce qu'on finit par s'habituer à la violence extrême des scènes de combat et d'horreurs sanguinaires ?). ( )

Gladiator (2000)

Russell Crowe – Maximus
Joaquin Phoenix – Commodus
Connie Nielsen – Lucilla
Richard Harris – Marcus Aurelius
Oliver Reed – Proximo
Derek Jacobi – Gracchus
Djimon Hounsou – Juba
David Schofield – Falco
John Shrapnel – Gaius
Tomas Arana – Quintus
Ralf Moeller – Hagen
Spencer Treat Clark – Lucius
Tommy Flanagan – Cicero

Screenplay by David Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson
Directed by Ridley Scott

Universal, 2005. Extended Special Edition. Digipak. Slipcase. 3DVD. Feature Disc: the movie, 164 min, colour, 2:35:1, DD 5.1; introduction by Ridley Scott (0:33); audio commentary by Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe. Bonus Disc 1: Tale of the Scribes: Story Development (34:04); The Tools of War (12:57); Attire of the Realm: Costume Design (19:41); The Heat of Battle: Production Journals (65:55); Shadows and Dust: Resurrecting Proximo (24:33); The Glory of Rome: Visual Effects (20:13); Echoes in Eternity: Release and Impact (19:28). Bonus Disc 2: production design primer with Arthur Max (9:35); various storyboards and picture galleries; deleted scenes, discarded storyboards & outtakes: alternate title design (9:20); blood vision (2:16); rhino fight (4:15); choose your weapon (0:50); “VFX Explorations: Germania & Rome” (23:52).

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In retrospect, this movie can be seen, together with The Patriot (2000) perhaps, as the beginning of the modern vogue for historical epics in the first decade of the 21st century. Master and Commander (2003), Troy (2004), Alexander (2004), King Arthur (2004), Kingdom of Heaven (2005) and Robin Hood (2010) are only the most notable members of this company. Gladiator is not merely the first of them. It is also the best. It is an almost perfect movie.

The script is the only slightly imperfect part. This is not because it is “historically inaccurate” (it was never meant to be a documentary), but because it verges on melodrama (Lucilla and Maximus) and towards the end slips too much into cloak-and-dagger antics (Gracchus as a buyer) or almost farcically contrived giveaways (Lucius playing “Maximus, the saviour of Rome”). But these are mere quibbles. This is still an epic story that takes history as a starting point and builds on it something striking indeed. Even Commodus has to admit that:

The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. A striking story.

But a story is nothing without fascinating characters and a cast to do them justice. Here you get both in spades.

I happen to think Russell Crowe deserved the bloody Oscar more for A Beautiful Mind (2001), but never mind. He is excellent as a very Roman general (the danger to the cavalry is acceptable, agreed?) dreaming of very un-Roman activities like apolitical family and farming. He has a good point that mud is easier to clean than blood. It’s a classic and classy Crowe performance, perhaps a little too subtle for the character, but with enough power when the occasion demands it. “Are you not entertained?” ought to be on every decent selection of great movie lines, not least because of the context and the delivery.

Joaquin Phoenix really steals the show with Commodus The Merciful. Deranged, scheming, cruel, insecure and jealous (of Maximus who stole both his sister and his father), Commodus is surely one of the most magnificent villains on the screen. Many lesser actors would have turned him into caricature. Not Joaquin. The “busy little bee” scene is almost worth the price of admission. But “Am I not merciful?” is another of those lines that have become iconic. The rumour has it that the shouting repetition was ad-libbed. If so, it was a brilliant touch. It is just about the only histrionic moment in the whole performance, and it feels supremely right. It’s a shame Joaquin lost the lousy Oscar, but it’s an even bigger shame that he was nominated for a supporting role.

The supporting cast is full of excellent performances. Richard Harris disappears after half an hour or so, but he makes a lasting impression as Marcus “So much for the glory of Rome!” Aurelius. Derek Jacobi exchanges his legendary emperor for that rarest of all Roman animals, an upright senator, and he pulls it off with exquisite grace. Connie Nielsen is given little opportunity to show off her lovely smile, as Maximus is the first to note, but she is an intense and affecting Lucilla. Oliver Reed died during production, which is ironic because the gruff, mercenary and sentimental death profiteer Proximo is his best bid at immortality. Who can forget his “queer giraffes” and the haggling with the slave trader (Omid Djalili)? “These slaves are rotten” – “It all adds to the flavour!” It’s good to have some fun even in the most tragic story. (Watch out for Ralph Moeller’s hilarious “poisoning scene”.)

Ironically enough, for all of its “historical inaccuracies”, the movie captures better than many documentaries the spirit of ancient Rome. This is not the marble of the Senate but the sand of the Coliseum, as Gracchus says with a fine touch of senatorial rhetoric. The ancient Romans were some of the most ruthless, rapacious and power-loving people in history. That’s why they built such a monstrous empire which existed for longer than it might have been expected. Edward Gibbon, who knew something about the matter, famously said that “instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long.”

Speaking visually, for movies are and must remain primarily a visual art, I have never seen a more spectacular evocation of ancient Rome. Many people have found the CGI unconvincing, indeed horrible, but I am not one of them. If there is a hint of artificiality in the most sweeping images, it works well to reinforce the ephemeral nature of imperial power. That, after all, is one of the movie’s central themes. If you look hard enough in the scenes inside the Coliseum, you’ll probably find some unconvincing details in the background. But that’s like the so-called “comparative listening” which some classical music lovers enjoy doing. Why delve in details and miss the best music, or a movie, has to offer?

The Extended Version – extended by something like 16-17 minutes – is the one to have. Strictly speaking, none of the additional scenes is strictly necessary to the plot and the characters. But all of them do fit rather neatly and make the whole thing more finely nuanced. These scenes include, for example, the conspiratorial meeting of Lucilla, Gracchus and Falco, which makes their later involvement with Maximus more plausible; Commodus hacking with a sword a marble head of his father before breaking down – a powerful image of filial love and hate; and the execution of two unfortunate fellows presumably responsible for Maximus’ escape in Germany, mostly notable for the doubt Commodus casts on Quintus.

The lavishly presented Extended Special Edition is also valuable for the first bonus disc which contains the exhaustive documentary Strength and Honour: Creating the World of Gladiator. Every possible aspect of the movie (story, sets, costumes, weapons, battles, special effects, reception) is discussed at length by almost everybody involved in the production. Epic movies demand epic resources, epic work and epic organisation. And a hundred million dollars, of course.

I found it most interesting to see how Oliver Reed was resurrected for his last scene with a body double and ingenious manipulation of previous shots. For instance, that final “shadows and dust” was an outtake from the earlier scene with Maximus and the gladiators before going out on the arena. Everybody was shocked by the sudden death of the boisterous Brit, but not a few frankly confess that the shock quickly gave way to worries about the movie. There are some interviews with Reed, as Proximo on the set, recalling with his typical gusto how he was told about a role in a Ridley Scott movie but also warned that the sending of the script didn’t constitute an offer. “Fuck him” was Reed’s initial reply, but he did read for the role (unusual for him), finally got it and was mightily pleased that it went together with a free ticket to London.

The movie won five Oscars. Everybody was shocked that Best Director wasn’t among them. (It went to Steven Soderbergh for Traffic.) Ridley must have been terribly disappointed. He is on record here, and he doesn’t seem to be joking, that it doesn’t make sense to him for a picture to win Best Movie and lose Best Director. The vanity of directors! For once, however, the august Academy showed some wisdom. Gladiator is much bigger than any of its parts, including the director. It’s a real tribute to movies as the most collaborative of all arts.

If you think Gladiator is boring, you should see The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) which also takes the final days of Marcus Aurelius as a starting point and stars big names like Christopher Plummer (Commodus), Alec Guinness (Marcus Aurelius) and Sophia Loren (Lucilla). Watch (if you can) all three hours of it and you will know what deadly boredom is. You will also know (if you can know it at all) the difference greatness and mediocrity. ( )

When a Roman General is betrayed, and his family murdered by an emperor's corrupt son, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge.

(Gladiator, Usa 2000, col, 155') Ridley Scott. Con Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Richard Harris, Connie Nilson, Oliver Red, Dimon Honsou, Derek Jacobi, David Hemmings, Tomas Arena, Gianina Facio, Giorgio Cantarini.
* 180 d.C. Il dissoluto Commodo uccide il padre Marco Aurelio (Harris) e il prode generale Maximus (Crowe) , condannato a morte si ritrova a fare il gladiatore: nel finale sfiderà il malvagio nel colosseo. Enorme successo globale e cinque oscar (miglior film attore e protagonista, effetti visivi e costumi, per un film che nell'era del digitale, ha saputo rinverdire i fasti del cinema d'avventura. Le scene di combattimento, malgrado gli otturatori al millesimo di secondo che consentono immagini eccezionalmente nitide, restano nella media della Hollywood odierna; non fanno nè vedere nè capire l'azione, si limitano a dare un'impressione di movimento. Stupisce l'entusiasmo di tanta critica, che si è sforzata di leggere nei ludi gladiatori metafore sull'industria dello spettacolo.
Produce la Dream Works di Spielberg. Musiche di Hans Zimmer e Lisa Gerrard, fotografia di John Matheieson e montaggio di Pietro Scalia. Gianina Facio (ai tempi compagna del regista) è la moglie di Maximus, Giorgio Cantarini di La Vita è bella è suo figlio.
Oliver Reed è morto durante le riprese e in alcune scene compare grazie alla tecnologia digitale.
(Fonte: Il Mereghetti, dizionario dei film 2014 ) ( )

A Roman general becomes a slave gladiator.

Much of the movie is boring. The first hour or so is slow but promising, but then out of nowhere the main character is captured by a slave trader and it's like a completely different movie. The second movie would have made a great action movie - there's some very fun, badass fight choreography, and the story is too absurdly simple to justify anything else - but whenever it tries to be more (which is most of the time), it gets extremely hackneyed. The plot is obvious and recycled, the dialog is painfully corny, and the characters feel like they've been re-written by committee. ( )