Commodus, being less than impressed by the situation, strangles his dear old
dad, declares himself Emperor, sends Maximus off to be executed and, for good
measure, slaughters his family.Maximus, like all good superheroes, escapes, is taken prisoner, sold as a
slave, and is reluctantly turned into a Gladiator.
Cue a brave and heroic struggle to overcome adversity and implement the task
entrusted in him.
As the first Roman Epic in some forty-odd years, there was very little
innovation in the story line; A modern day, better, re-run of Spartacus,
Ben Hur and The Fall Of The Roman Empire.
As heroic Gladiators go, Crowe carried the role well, although similarities
with "Jonathan E" from Rollerball were hard to avoid at times.
The supporting cast played their parts admirably; Oliver Reed giving a fine
performance in his last ever screen role. Casting was excellent.
Performing rather less well than anticipated in a blockbuster of this size was
the computer generated imagery. Synchronisation and matting was fine but the
quality was just not there.
In the majority of cases the CGI stood out like a sore thumb. Most of the
sweeping backgrounds and the imaginary parts of the Coliseum never quite
blended into their real surroundings. Many of the initial battle scene bolt-ons
were of particularly poor quality. The block crowd scenes left a lot to be
desired. Where digitally blended-in Tigers were used, it was very noticeable.
All of it seemed to have a fuzziness and lack of quality about it. Some would
say that's what you get from using a relatively unknown computer effects
company who, apparently, did all their work on Apple Macintoshes. It is
interesting to note that the publicity stills, including examples of the CGI,
seem to echibit much better quality than their moving counterparts.
Despite the criticism, the CGI made its mark in giving the film its larger
than life feel, although I still have a strong opinion that it wasn't needed at
all.
Another aspect of the film which I didn't particularly like was the post
production effects applied to the fight scenes. Akin to the jerky-vision in the
initial battle scenes of Saving Private Ryan, everything
was given a stroboscopic effect. Although the action was a lot better than the,
clank-clank, sword bashing of earlier epics, its submersion under the heavy, and
overused effect, was a disappointment.
So, with the poor CGI, post production effects I didn't like and a running time
of nearly three hours; I am pleased to say that I did actually like the film,
didn't get bored, and didn't lose interest, despite an ending which is pretty
well obvious from the start.
This says a lot for Scott's directorial skills, the screenplay, an excellent,
although subdued, soundtrack and the efforts of the many high calibre actors.
Given that there must have been a massive budget for this film; it's a shame
that it didn't have the CGI to turn it into the epic of classic proportions
which it could so easily have been.
A disappointment, but it's not a credible excuse to miss this film.
