It didn't. It still sucks.

One thing we didn't even touch on in the review is the historical accuracy. Caligula may have been more historically accurate than Gladiator.

And speaking of Caligula, do you think old Max California (Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus) watched Caligula a few times preparing for this role? He looked and acted a bit too much like Malcolm McDowell for my liking.

It did $35 million opening weekend, but with Battlefield Earth and Mi-2 in the pipe, they better milk it while they can.

I thought it was well made, and, having been to Rome, I liked seeing the recreation of the "Non-Ruined Ancient Rome." The 60's sword-and-sandal epics were often good, but none of them can really compete with the CGI used in this one.

Historical accuracy: Although it's history is a little vague, there's some surprising bits of real history here and there:

(The ending mostly is what I thought was overdone; having a gladiator go
mano a mano with a Roman Emperor was silly, to say the least. Except...turns out the real Emperor Commodus really did fight in the Coliseum, against gladiators. Not once, but many many times. Now, I wouldn't be surprised if things were slightly stacked in his favor, but, still, he did fight. Also, unlike the depiction in the movie, he was no coward, he did lead troops in battle, on many occasions, and was apparently well respected by his troops)

This is what I gleaned from a few web searches; much of it from a Catholic
encyclopedia. I don't make any claims that this is 100% accurate, but it's
certainly more so than the movie:

Marcus Aurelius (played by Richard Harris) was an emperor much like depicted
in the movie, his armies did much conquering. He died in AD 180.
Commodus was born in 161 AD, son of Marcus Aurelius, he became emperor in
180 (he was 19). His wife was Crispina, daughter of one of Marcus
Aurelius's loyal generals (not named Maximus!). She was implicated in a
senatorial plot to overthrow him in 182 AD, banished to the island of Capri
and later murdered in 183.

Commodus reigned until AD 192, when he was strangled by conspirators (not
killed in a one-on-one battle with a gladiator!). One of the conspirators
in on his murder was his concubine, Marcia.

So he had a wife, who was banished and murdered, and a concubine who helped
murder him. Whether he had a sister that he had incestuous longings for,
I don't know, but she was seemingly not his only female interest in life.

From the accounts, Emperor Commodus (unfortunate name!) was as despicable as
depicted in the movie.

Also note that his reign was 12 years after the death of his father. A
somewhat compressed timeline in the movie, I don't think our fictional
general Maximum spent 12 years as a gladiator.

In fact, we know the timeline was very short, because, shortly before going
to Rome, Oliver Reed's gladiator school owner character mentions that for
the last 5 years, they've been unable to play in Rome, banished to the
backwaters, because of Marcus Aurelius' anti-bread-and-circuses decree.
Not to mention the 8 year old son of Lucetia, or whatever her name was,
daughter of the old emperor and sister of the new one, didn't seem to have
aged much.

(I realize that trying to tally up timelines with real versus fictional
events is futile; one might as well chronicle Captain Kirk's future timeline
in STAR TREK, but, having seen the movie, it made me curious about the real
life situation at that time).

Otherwise, I thought the movie was pretty good, a nice recreation of Rome,
new computer graphics and whatnot have made it possible to give a better
feeling of the scale than in those 1960's sword-and-sandal flicks.

But the ending bothered me. Having a lesser, fictional character encounter
actual historical figures is one thing, but when they actually..kill...the
actual historical figure, things get silly.

One might as well write a movie which ends with Abraham Lincoln having a
duel to the death with King George III.

(Wait...before you point it out: I know. *I KNOW*)

You complain about the accuracy of Gladiator and then criticize me for not being able to enjoy U-571 due to its inaccuracies?

heheh.

If we seem illogical or inconsistent at times, that's because our reviews are totally subjective. The only criteria we base our reviews upon is how much we enjoyed watching the flick.

In the Gladiator review we said it just barely rated a third star. I stand by that. It isn't a "must see" to me, but I cant really say it's video-bait either. That opening battle sequence really does look great on the big screen, I just wish they had kept that up for the entire movie.

When I said it "sucks" in this thread, that may have been a bit harsh, especially after seeing Battlefield Earth which makes Gladiator look excellent by comparison. But that is largely a result of disappointment. Gladiator is the first big summer release, and we were looking forward to it with alot of action, maybe a modern day Spartacus even.

Instead, it seemed slow and plodding with only a few fight sequences and a whole lot of dreck inbetween.

It does look like it's going to do huge box office though as it doesn't get any real competition until Mi-2 debuts next week since Battlefield Earth will almost certainly nose dive in it's second week.

------------------

--Billy Bob

I think Spartacus was a little more ballsy in the little details, eg, making Olivier's character more of a louse than Phoenix's...what with the bath scene with Tony curtis and all, but Gladiator had a lot more going for it that just the Christ retelling, which both films featured.

I enjoyed Gladiator for the sublte irony of its message, making itself into the "bread and circuses" offered to the blood thirsty Roman crowds, and thus malking its audience into the same crowd shown in the film.

But that's just one theory.

* When Maximus was carted to gladiator
camp, Juba, the African, was urging him to
live. Otherwise, if dead, he would be food for the lions.

* Before his debut in the Colisseum, Lucius,
young son of Lucilla, asked if he can crush
men's skulls with one hand. Maximus struck
out his hand and light-heartedly said he could do so to boys.

* During lunch, when Maximus got his soup
or stew, Juba cautioned it might be
poisonous. Harken (fellow gladiator from
Germania), spooned a sample and within
moments when into convulsions. Then he
and Juba laughed, as did the General.

I live in New York City. Gladiator is quite
cheap, paying 21 dollars for the two disk
set. Then I found out it was selling even
lower, at $18.99 in another store!! We're
managing to deal with a large snowfall.

This is my first post. I look forward to
check this website further.

Suggested Scandal & Sword Cinema
* Spartacus (Kirk Douglas in proletarian glory)
* Cleopatra (beautifully filmed NBC mini series)
* Cleopatra (Liz Taylor/Richard Burton film)
* Ten Commandments (So it shall be written, so it will be viewed. 'Yul' love it)
* Fall Of The Roman Empire (1960s film that's similar to Gladiator; Sophia Loren, o
la la...)
* Ben Hur (silent film)
* Ben Hur (Charlton Heston & Stephen Boyd)
* Masada (ABC-TV mini series)
* AD (NBC-TV mini series)
* The Robe (Richard Burton finds God)
* Caligua (not recommended; awfully gory
and lewd; title character had a thing for
his sister, like Commodus)

billybob, regardless of your views, you have
a great film website.