FILM #1 - GLADIATOR (2000)

Film #1 - GLADIATOR (2000)

Dir: Ridley Scott
Starring: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Richard Harris, Oliver Reed

Thirteen years after it’s release, I finally got around to watching Gladiator. There are no particular reasons why I hadn’t watched it, maybe because I was more a fan of Tony Scott than Ridley Scott, but I wish I’d have seen it sooner. It was amazing. 

I got the extended, three disc version which has an extra seventeen minutes of added footage. Even though the year 2000 wasn’t that long ago, it amazes me how such an epic film could have been made. I’m making this sound like it was made in the Middle Ages, but back then all I remember was a dial up internet connection and the Nintendo 64. The fast paced world we live in now, it’s hard to see how something of that magnitude could have been made at all. If the exact same film was shot today, I don’t think a better job could have been done. Apart from maybe the footage of Oliver Reed that was super imposed onto a body double after he passed away during filming. I could tell straight away that this was the case, but I already knew about that and was probably looking for it. The scenes that were shot after his death and the work that went into the effects added an extra $3 million to the already staggering $100 million budget. It didn’t really hurt it though seeing as it took over $450 million at the box office.

All in all, the story line was fantastic. Well written, great characters. Joaquin Phoenix was, in my opinion, the only person who could have pulled off Commodus like that. Just a dirty, vile character whose head you want to see on the business end of a sword!

The scope and scale of Gladiator is something that will be replicated but unmatched, although I will admit, I do like my films a little shorter, but what else is a guy to do on a Saturday night in? This is probably another reason I might have put off watching it, but believe me when I say that having watched it now, it was worth every second.

What I am sure of is that I will watch every last drop of the special features. I want to know how in the hell Ridley Scott pulled that off. The choreography of the fight scenes, the costumes, the extras, the scenery all came together for one bad ass movie. Absolutely stunning, and a great tribute to Oliver Reed. 

RATING
8/10