Film Review: Gladiator

By Nathan Basha

Ridley Scott’s action genre adventure revenge film, Gladiator is a physical and emotional journey following character Maximus Decimus Meridius’s struggle to overcome the loss of his loved ones, at the hand of a corrupt Roman Government.

The film is about Russell Crowe’s character Maximus and his struggle to overcome the pearls of losing his loved ones, and battling a Tyrant (Joaquin Phenix) due to his conflicting laws.

The Director of Gladiator is Ridley Scott, he created a film loosely on the ancient history/culture of Rome and he quite literally made it extremely entertaining.

Scott engages the audience by drawing on what happened in Ancient Rome, through his cast of actors and actresses and the dramas of the ancient roman etc.

For me personally Maximus and Commodus and the father of Commodus were entertaining. Maximus was very engaging as a hero, his tragedies, his struggle and his war all aimed at wanting a chance to fight against the evil that caused his life pain and agony.

The pace of the film was captivating and engaging and Russell Crowe’s portrayal of Maximus was authentic.

There was a good use of Mise-en-scene, to convey the atmosphere of the film shown in Maximus’s final fight with Commodus.

Scott created visual metaphor in the scene when Russell Crowe looks up at Joaquin Phenix when Russell is in the arena in the coliseum, of which shows Joaquin is the one in power, up high, and Russell’s Maximus is simply a peasant down below.

Gladiator is a classic film because of the cast and the scenes of The Speech at the films’ beginning and the scene of “Are you not entertained” and the Vs Fight against Tiger. It is one of my favourite films because Russell Crowe is not just a man who defined Ancient Roman Empire but also defined the world of Hollywood films as an awesome actor.