Hey, just saw Gladiator, or should that be "Mad Max(imus)", given that they are essentially the same films - even have an Aussie in the lead role! While any resemblance to people or situations living or dead appears to be purely accidental, this is definitely a movie about what Ancient Rome ought to have been, not what it was.
But the Commodus as portrayed here ain't even a spit on the barking megalomaniacal loon the real one was, and as I said in my last message, he died in his hot-tub, not the coliseum (though he did appear there - mostly despatching wild animals from the safety of behind a specially-installed barrier. It is said that one afternoon he killed 100 leopards with 100 javelins, to the great delight of the crowd and presumably, the great dismay of the SPQRSPCA). If anything, the film downplayed the inventive cruelty and banal depravity that often went on in the arena, and also the staggering quantity and variety of wild animals used (though the bit with the tigers was cool!).
The battle in gloomy forests of Germania at the start is wonderful, and it wasn't hard to imagine them as Lunars vs Sartarites. I was waiting for that line, "Don't these people know when they've been defeated?", I thought Max's reply equally good, "Would you?". Say, Max's loyal hound just disappears onto the cutting room floor after the battle scene, which was a bit of a shame. I guess it couldn't have run all the way back from Germany to Spain, even though it only took Mad Maximus 2 quick scenes and about 90 seconds of screen time (moments later, he unaccountably ends up in what looks like North Africa!). Guess we'll just have to wait for the four hour long director's cut to see Fido again, and also that coral snake.
Though the film has some risible moments and some very creaky dialogue at times (I loved the bit where senators were cheerfully discussing the virtues of returning to the republic in front of the emperor's deranged son and heir), as a spectacle it's well worth having a look at, especially on a big screen in a cinema with Dobly. Russell Crowe does a very good Mel Gibson, Derek Jacobi wanders in from the wrong period in Roman history, and I for one couldn't tell which 3 minutes it was that Oliver Reed performed while dead. I'll give it a thumbs up too!
Cheers,
MOB
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