Word: maximus
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...takes for Ridley Scott's adrenaline-charged combat epic to hit overdrive, rapidly shifting to Germania, where the seemingly unstoppable Roman army (a second century equivalent to the Yankees) is waiting to do bloody battle with the rebellious locals. All eyes are trained upon the formidable General Maximus (Russell Crowe), a man of impressive stature and rock-hard determination, who commands his troops to give 'em hell. And by God they do. The scene erupts into a frenzied melee of flaming arrows and rabid battle cries, escalating into a gleeful orgy of flying sword blades, blood, and body parts...
...terms of plot, Gladiator has some fairly epic ambitions of its own. Maximus is adored by the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris), who is nearing death and tortured by uncertainties over his place in history. Therefore, he decides to bypass his power-hungry son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), as emperor and invest all his authority in Maximus, who can then re-empower the senate and help Rome return to its glory days as a republic. Maximus is not particularly enthusiastic he'd much rather occupy his time with a less stressful task, like tending crops, but he reluctantly agrees. Next...
...might just be Russell Crowe, an actor whose praises I've been singing for years. LA Confidential and The Insider (which he should of won Best Actor for) solidified his credibility as an actor, but Gladiator is the film that will make Crowe a star. While the role of Maximus lacks the deep inner-conflict and shades of gray that marked the roles of Bud White and Jeffrey Wigand, Crowe is given the opportunity here to display a white-hot intensity and impressive physicalitynever, not even for a nanosecond, do we fail to believe that he is every inch...
...Gladiator fails as a full-fledged epic. Scott has never been particularly adept at the human aspect of his stories (it's no coincidence that Blade Runner is his best film) and here the human relationships are often severely lacking, cold even. The friendship between Maximus and a fellow gladiator (played by Amistad's Djimon Hounsou) has no emotional resonance, nor does his bland romance (if you want to call it that) with the emperor's sister (Connie Nielsen). And as wonderful as Crowe is, the detached nature of his character (mostly the fault of the script) hinders his ability...