Director Ridley Scott (“Black Rain,” “1492: Conquest of Paradise,” etc.) started the new decade/century/millennium with a bang when 2000’s “Gladiator” hit the box office and Oscar mother load. This blockbuster winner of five Academy Award trophies (including Best Picture and Best Actor) single-handedly turned Russell Crowe into a star, revived the swords-and-sandals epics that used to be Hollywood mainstays (like “The Robe” and “Cleopatra”) and made the concept of gladiators seem cool again. We wouldn’t be reviewing PlayStation 2 games like LucasArts’ “Gladius” or Acclaim’s “Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance” if Ridley Scott’s movie didn’t have a profound impact on pop culture upon its release.
Scott went on to direct back-to-back blockbusters (“Hannibal” and “Black Hawk Down”) after “Gladiator,” and only recently did his lucky streak run out when Nicolas Cage’s “Matchstick Men” bombed at the box office. The British-native director that gave us the first “Alien” movie and the feminist icon duo of “Thelma & Louise” has embraced the DVD format like few Hollywood insiders have. “Gladiator’s” enduring popularity since its 2000 theatrical release owes a lot to the fact that the DVD package in which it was released was technically outstanding (see ‘THE DISC’ section below). But the movie itself deserves credit for giving depth and characterization to what could have been lousy “Conan the Barbarian”-type stunts without rhyme or reason. The plot of “Gladiator” focuses way too much on the soap opera-like manipulations that Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix, totally miscast as the heavy) engages in to rid himself of Maximus (Russell Crowe, excellent) when the latter is tapped to be emperor of the Roman kingdom by the dying Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris).
Reduced to the status of slave gladiator after Commodus inherits his father’s throne and has Maximus’ family killed, our hero has a chance to prove himself at the Roman Coliseum and seizes it. There’s also the inevitable love interest (Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla), the hero’s best friend (Djimon Honsou’s Juba) and father figure (Oliver Reed’s Proximo) and dozens of other clichés that threaten to sink “Gladiator” into the type of muck that characterized the lesser swords-and-sandal epics (like “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” or the over hyped “The Ten Commandments”). Trimming the fat from these scenes would have also worked wonders to extradite “Gladiator’s” somewhat torturous 155 min. running time. But then there are the impressive Computer Generated shots of Rome from centuries ago, the battle scenes in Germania (where Aurelius and Maximus have their few private moments together before Commodus comes to mess everything up) and, last but not certainly least, the mano-a-mano duels between Maximus and a small army of gladiators that wind up in pieces.
Kinetic, hyper-violent and more than adequately integrated with the movie’s plot (we can sense Maximus’ lack of joy in his killing because all he’s doing is channeling the rage he feels for the murder of his wife & son), the action scenes in “Gladiator” have yet to be topped for sheer intensity and brutal effectiveness. I’ll openly confess to only watching the movie in its entirety on DVD no more than four times. The Coliseum battles and every action part of the film, however, I’ve watched and re-watched so many times if my DVD player were a VCR the playback heads would have snapped from rewinding the tape too many times. Too bad the ending of “Gladiator” betrays the audience with no payoff showdown that lives up to the rest of the movie’s action scenes, but that’s a small caveat. Seeing veteran stars like Oliver Reed (who passed away during production) and Richard Harris (who died three years later after starring in Warner Bros.’s “Harry Potter” movies) combined with the movie’s mammoth epic feel are enough to give “Gladiator” staying power despite its soap opera-ish nonsense. Not worthy of the Best Picture of 2000 Oscar (Steven Soderbergh’s “Traffic” should have won), but an entertaining and fun ride when the 155 minutes aren’t dedicated to Commodus’ sick obsession with sister Lucilla (EEEWWW).
The Disc:
A single-disc version of “Gladiator” has been available for some time now, but the two-disc DVD package can still be found online and stores. It's worth the extra bucks to track this version down. The second disc houses a truckload of interesting extras that complement the movie well. These include 25 Min. of Deleted Scenes (11 of them under ‘From The Cutting Room Floor’ heading, with or w/o optional commentary from Ridley Scott), a 25 min. ’Making of Gladiator’ Featurette (slightly-above most HBO First Look featurettes), a 21 min. ’Hans Zimmer: Composing Gladiator’ Featurette and a 50 min. Discovery Channel Documentary, ‘Gladiator Games: Roman Blood Sport’ (lots of “Gladiator” movie footage recycled here to pad the documentary’s length). There are also extensive Cast & Crew, Production Notes, Trailers & TV Spots, Storyboards and Stills Gallery sections, as well as a cute but dull ’My Gladiator Journal’ text/picture gallery kept by actor Spencer Treat Clark (Lucius, Commodus’ nephew).
For a 2000 release this second disc of “Gladiator” bonus material is pretty loaded, but the real attraction of the package remains disc 1’s Widescreen Anamorphic (2:35:1) Video Transfer and its trio of outstanding English Soundtracks: DTS 6.1 ES, Dolby Digital 5.1 & D.D. 2.0 Surround (English Subtitles are also included). Though minimal shimmering can be seen in Maximus’ armor when the sun reflects on it “Gladiator’s” picture is sharp, solid and mostly edge enhancement free. Blacks are solid and consistent throughout; you’d have to be a real nit picker to find flaws anywhere (though some can be found during the CG-enhances scenes of ancient Rome). Ridley Scott’s knack for manipulating the camera’s shutter speed and the picture’s color palette to reflect the state of mind of characters in particular scenes (like the almost-monochrome hues when Maximus discovers his murdered family, or the Technicolor-like red hues during the bloodbaths that are the combat scenes) works better in “Gladiator” than in the films that Scott directed soon after (“Hannibal” and “Black Hawk Down”). The DTS and Dolby soundtracks of “Gladiator” were the DVD demo quality tracks of their time, and I reckon they could still sell a home theater or two today. Very little else needs to be said about how well the DVD’s audio has stood the test of time.
Capping the orgy of quality features that makes people like us worship the format is a trademark of every Ridley Scott movie available (or coming soon) on DVD: an interesting and in-depth Commentary Track with Scott, Cinematographer John Mathieson and Editor Pietro Scalia. Scott and his collaborators provide the sort of insightful and interesting behind-the-scenes anecdotes that fans of their particular movies want to know about. Not as good as the commentary tracks in the Special Editions of “Alien,” "Hannibal" and “Black Hawk Down," the “Gladiator” commentary is still more than worth a listen for fans of the director's body of work.
bottom line:
Three years after it set a benchmark for home theater quality that many current (and much newer) DVD releases can barely match (let alone surpass), the OOP two-disc version of “Gladiator” can still stand proud and tall in a crowded arena of perpetually-improving foes. Picture/sound transfers were top-notch in 2000 and can still hold their own in 2003. Besides its still-exciting action scenes and an intense performance by Russell Crowe the movie hasn’t aged as well as the DVD though. Too many backstabbing soap opera antics eat up the bulk of the film’s 155 min. running time. At least veteran actors like Richard Harris and Oliver Reed provide solid performances in the twilight of their distinguished careers. The ending also sucks ass, but who cares? When it has to “Gladiator” delivers the goods.
By - J.M. Vargas
