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REVIEW: Epic has all the elements but fails to fully deliver.By HENRY SHEEHANThe Orange County Register/ ladiator opens% m 1 in the year 180I ^mbA.D. on the» I northern borderof the Roman Empire where a massed Roman legion under the command of the aptly named General Maximus (Russell Crowe) has just received notice that surrounding Germanic tribes are not going to surrenderpeaceably to the Roman yoke. The notice came courtesy of a Roman messenger, who has been sent back to his own lines by the Germans on his horse but without his head.That the Romans are pretty sure they are going to whip some barbarian butt is evidenced by Maximus’ response to this calculated insult; rather than lose his temper, he coolly relays the order to attack.What follows is as spectacular as the build-up promises, a large-scale battle scene just like they used to have in the old days, when casts of thousands were commonplace in Hollywood spectaculars On top of that, the movie makes a swift move into dramatic chicanery-on the heels of the inevitable Roman victory Once the haute is fought, Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris), who'Gladiator*► Stars: Russell Crowe, Connie Nielsen, Joaquin Phoenix► Behind the scenes: Directed by Ridley Scott; screenplay by David Franzoni and John Logan and William Nicholson; story by Franzoni; produced by Douglas Wick, Franzoni, Rranko Lustig► Playing: Opens today throughout Orange County► Rating: R for violence► Running time: 2 hours, 30 min-utes► You might like it if: You Iked the 1950s epic Demetrius and the Gladiatorshas overseen the fighting, receives his late-arriving son (also aptly named) Commodus (an epicene Joaquin Phoenix). Son, he says, I love you, but I’m leaving the empire to Maximus. You don’t love me, cries Commodus who, less vocally but just as obviously, also makes plans to overturn his dad’s second statement, including taking care of his “brother” Maximus.Unfortunately, that promise of conspiracies high and low,sexual and political, only goes partially fulfilled Director Ridley Scott (“Blade Runner, “G.I. Jane), who is nothing if not the soul of inconsistency, does a marvelous job of staging some gladiator scenes Those become necessary when Maximus slips the bonds of hisown assassins but is unable to save his wife and child.Kidnapped in his native Spain by wandering slave traders, he ends up in a gladiator school in North Africa run by hardboiled and bug-eyed Proximo (the late Oliver Reed, in his final performance). Maximus turns out to be very, vary good at his unchosen calling and ends up going to Rome with Proximo and his schoolmates and becoming a star at the Coliseum.These fights are, in a sense, the whole point of “Gladiator There is a plot, but it is at once so derivative and so undernourished (especially compared with the muscular gladiators), that it never really registers as a story. As far as it goes, it’s “Spartacus IJte,” minus that epic’s moral grandeur. Maximus wants revenge on Commodus who, coincidentally, is as bad an emperor as he is a friend Naturally, the emperor recognizes his did foe soon after he begins his Coliseum matinees. But the former general has became such a star, and Commodus relies so heavily on the mob for political support, that Maximus can’t be dealt with directly. So Commo-dus essentially tries to figure out ever more dangerous games for his rival as Maximus tnes to work out a way to make Commodus pay for his treach eryYes, it’s another revenge fantasy A little effort is made to bring in some moral politicalTHE QUICK HITThe gladiator fights are usually very good, but other wise “Gladiator fails to achieve the scale of an ancient epic Russell Crowe stars as a Roman general who has to fight Ns way back to the top from giadia tor ranks; Joaquin Phoenix is the treacherous, epicene Ro man emperor, and Connie Nielsen is the emperor's sister and part of the usuallyperverse romantic triangie Ridley Scott directed, very well for the excellent opening battle and subsequent dramatic setup, but not very imaginatively after that.► Grade C+issues courtesy of an old republican. the senator Gracchus (Derek Jacobi). A little more muscle is applied to sex, in the person of Commodus’s sister, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) who, in the Roman way, is lusted after by her brother while she tests for Maximus. But these subplots are only half told. For example, the filmmakers have tried to compress both the traditional good girl and bad girl figures into the rather slim Lu-ciila, who ends up seeming a mere ditherer. Gracchus’s championship of democracy never serves as a moral beacon for Maximus; only a convenient point of mutual interest. Commodus lacks the right-hand muscle man whowould take on Maximus mar a mono. Even Maximum s bar of friends (which includes D. mon Hounsou of “Armistad are barely more thrspear-holders.So that leaves the gladiatlt; fights, which range from golt; to very good but which nevi achieve the scale of the ope ing battle. There are son imaginative variations on tl usual slug-it-out bouts, one i volving tigers and the oth scythe-bearing chariots. Crovis very good througtwi whether he’s flashing a swor happily commanding troops brooding over his vengeant All the acting, in fact, is fit even when the parts are no’great. rBut if you subtract the fu half-hour from the movie, you’re left with is a pich esque and gory version of pi fessional wrestling The go guys are built up, the bad go rated up, and then they a sent out into the ring where t usual dramatic rises and accompany the physical spii Stunt work is combined so w with some digital effect « you may find yourself oon ■ and ah-ing at some ot thrusts, but it’s a moment thrill and hard to get uotK up over the secondaround.Odd to say it, but despit - iopening, despite some cro scenes and sane digt* cityscapes of ancient Kwhat “Gladiator” lack punch
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Santa Ana Orange County Register
Santa Ana, California, US
Fri, May 05, 2000
Page 88
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USA 31 Oct 2022
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