Gladiator

Terence Malick directed three of the greatest films ever made: Badlands, Days of Heaven, and The Thin Red Line. Malick's films always illustrate the beauty of nature juxtaposed with man's petty problems, see the shot of the bird with the broken wing in Thin Red Line, or every outdoor shot of Days of Heaven.

And yeah, sure, it could have been a ripoff from Schindler's List. But Malick is what came to mind when i saw that shot.

Hey guys just posting this to say that I'm glad you enjoyed my little analysis of part of Act 1 of Gladiator. Ill probably finish Act 1(that's right I'm not done) latter tonight after I watch Meet the Parents. So around 10 ill start(steve if you read this be on at 10 because I lost your telephone # and cant call about seeing that movie tommarrow).

Act 1 continued:

At the end of the battle Ridley moves into slow motion and Hans Zimmer's score comes on (the music alone in this movie deserves to be written about, few other movies are able to fit music and movie together so perfectly). The slow mo gives the feeling of victory and bloody triumph while the music says "What was it for?" Cut to Marcus Aurellius as he sighs with relief pretty much telling us exactly how he feels about war (in this movie the viewer has to learn about characters a lot through their reactions and expressions, I'll try to point out others as I go along).

Now comes the carriage ride of Lucilla and Commodus. In this scene lighting comes into play again with the light splashing across half of Commodus' face giving him an evil look, a kind of premonition. While Lucilla not being given the same lighting, but instead of her face becing half lit it is in complete darkness. Is she not the silent genious. As Commodus steps off of the carriage we see his face and notice that it is quiet pale and the eyes are dark. Quite the evil oppent.

Next comes the cut back to the battlegrounds where Commodus is making his journey to. It starts off with a shot of Maximus's sword and the camera follows it to the handle. It is unmoving unlike the carnage that it has helped to bring about, this signals the end to the fighting. I also really love the fact that Maximus went back to get it being that it looks like a really expensive sword. Maximus and Marcus meet next in another scene which tells of their relationship. They are obviously friends by the way that they talk and Maximus doesn't fully bow to him like the other soldiers. Also in their talk together we learn what Maximus really wants, to be home. This is his heaven as we shall later see in the movie. I like that the movie makes out the most favorite thing in your life to be heaven, it touches me. Enter Commodus on his horse to a musical score that pronounces the entrance of the Devil. The army then hails Maximus as the great general that he is. Next we learn of the relationship of Marcus and his son as one in which Commodus sucks up to him but Marcus just doesn't take the bait. It is a fragile relationship. We also see how intimate a relationship that Maximus has with Marcus as he helps him on the horse.

To be continued

I thought that was more like it was showing what had caused all the carnage, Maximus' army or his sword, and then it was showing who was commanding it, Maximus' hand or Maximus himself.

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I heard about this today. Forgot to tell Mark in gov. Gladiator will soon be getting a prequel. Yea, thats right, it is doing so well that those idiots are going to try to capitalize on it even more by making a prequel. Those fooking idiots!!! Why are they going to ruin a great movie, by making a prequel just so they can make more money!?!? It is just dumb. I hate Hollywood!

There's no way a prequel could be worse than the original.

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I dont understand how you can make a prequel for Gladiator. maximus was a general before he became a gladiator. Will crowe be innit? How about van diesel as a gladiator? Leonardo di Caprio can be the lady in distresss, hahaha.

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Shut it Steve!!

And thats just the point, there is no need for a prequel at all, they just want more money!!

Don't diss Gladiator. It didn't deserve Best Picture (Ang Lee now has an official right to go on a shooting spree), but it was a solid movie all-around. Oh, and no, I don't like the idea of a prequel either. Prequels are hard to pull off, and this one in particular looks like it could bomb.

It's, of course, guaranteed aroudn $100 million in US Box Office gross no matter how bad it is. Oh well.

I believe that Gladiator and Crouching Tiger were head to head when it came to the Best Picture. I would have been glad with either one, but I don't understand how some people(you know who I'm talking about) can't like that movie. It's spectacular.

If by spectacular you mean boring, stupid, uninvolving, muddled, poorly shot, and terribly directed, then by all means you are correct. See, we agree with each other.

Call it boring and stupid (very subjective terms), but don't call it poorly shot. It was by no means poorly shot. I think you simply hate it with such a passion that you're willing to take shots at any aspect of it. It was sufficiently shot (dare I say, well shot?).

I guess Gladiator is just for a more mature audience.

LOL

I should be in bed right now but Gladiator was GREAT! I dont know what your talkin about Steven. I saw the DVD again 2 days ago & I tried to find bad things like you said but I couldnt. The scene where Maximus was spreadin loogy (I remember what you said TWT) all over his dead wifes feet was particlarly moving & made me cry.

Oh yeah, Pigsnie did dislike the ending becuz Commodus wasnt killed in no arena, he said that was totally ridiculoos.

In history Commodus was killed in bed, but that doesn't matter. We needed a final show down between them so that there could be a resoultion. And then Maximus dying and going to his own personal heaven, I know some tough guys that cried at that part.

I certainly enjoyed Gladiator, but unlike a buddy of mine I don't feel that it's one of the truly great films of our time. I ranked it top 5 or so for last year, but to me Crouching Tiger was a much more touching and beautiful movie.

Zwee: stick a spoiler notice on that post.

The movie was one of the WORST of last year. I would give best picture to any of the following over Gladiator: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Almost Famous, Wonder Boys, Dancer in the Dark, Requiem for a Dream, High Fidelity, Traffic, Bamboozled, Jesus's Son, Shadow of the Vampire, Chuck and Buck, You Can Count on Me, Girl on the Bridge (wonderful french film), The Cell, The Filth and the Fury, Unbreakable, The Virgin Suicides...and about 10 more.

I'm not willing to take shots at any aspect of it. I thought Crowe was good, Joaquin Phoenix was serviceable, and Djimon Hounsou was excellent (despite his character, a slave. You know a white guy wrote the screenplay). But I thought the cinematography was indistinct and fuzzy, and the visual effects looked cheap and shoddy. Case in point-when Commodus comes to Rome. It looks like a video game set. As far as the rest of Rome goes, since when was it a desert? Where are the trees? Is there a green or blue in the entire movie? there were holes in the screenplay as well. We're never actually told HOW he becomes a gladiator, or how he rides from Germany all the way back to Spain in such a short amount of time. It's bad storytelling, therefore bad directing. And that's the truth, Ruth.

This was a great discussion. I only came in now that it seems to be winding down.I felt that Gladiator was both a good movie and a bad one in the sense that it had some good action scenes and succeeded in creating a bit of immediacy with history, which is always nice in a movie, but had a real weakness and its name is the personality of Commodus, the young emporer.

Its not only that I found this character repulsive and pathetic, which is basically what you what you want in a villian, but I found him unrealistically unformidible. The scene in the colleseum where he get shown up by the Maximus, the Gladiator, was just not convincing. An emporer that cannot hold his own in public showdowns has the option to hide himself from public view. That scene made it seem as if the conflict was between two men as opposed to the more
impossible conflict between a man and an entire empire. don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that one man cannot stand up to an entire evil empire and win. Nathan Sharansky did it! But not the way it happpened in this movie. So I guess what bothered me here was that Commodus kept reminding me that it was just a movie and when this happened, the immediacy of history was broken.

Now that I have read this thread, especially Zweedorf's comments on the first scene, I appreciate the good aspects of this film all the more. It wasn't just good action. It was also a series of powerful symbols that impact strongly becuase they are so hidden and subtle. I thought that picking up the dirt was just to get a better grip on the sword. But Zweeedorf is right. Its something else. Its comming to terms with death. Its getting a grip on life in a world where every day could be your last.

Andy

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Andy Kohlenberg
Israel