GladiatorI know what your thinking, this isn’t a martial arts movie – but it is on ‘The List’, so I’m going to review it!

Russell Crowe, whose martial arts background consists of no holds barred pub and bar fights around the world (think “Russell Crowe foightin’ ’round the world” on Southpark), plays Maximus – a Roman General highly respected and honored by his Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

After a successful battle The Emporer talks with Maximus, stating that he is dieing. Maximus is told he will be empowered to one end – to give power back to the republic and put an end to the corruption which has crippled Rome.

Before deciding, Maximus goes off for the night, when The Emperor’s son Commodus kills his father aftea very strained relationship, and losing his claim to the throne.  This prevents his father from naming Maximus as his successsor.

As the first in line to rule, Commodus takes his place as Emperor, and offers Maximus his loyalty if he takes his hand.  Maximus ignores Commodus knowing exactly what has happened.  He is then arrested and sentenced to execution.

Before being knocked out, Maximus asks a fellow soldier to look after his family, when it is stated they will ‘meet him in the afterlife’ – in other words, be killed.

Maximus then escapes and runs on horseback to save his family.  Too late, he find his son and daughter dead.  He buries them and sleeps next to their graves before being found and made into a slave.

Maximus is then sold off to a man named Proximo, a former Gladiator with his own little mini-Colosseum.  When Maximus learns that he can face the Emperor if he fihhts and wins his freedom, he enters the games at the Colosseum to take his revenge and fulfil his duty – to destroy corruption and return rule of Rome to the Senate.

Russell Crowe

The Honorable Maximus

This movie essentially shows a fight between two very different men.

Maximus is the honorable and righteous General and Farmer whilst Commodus is an ego driven man with tremendous insecurity and selfish obsession with being respected – even if it means he has to do so through fear and threat.

Maximus is strong and respected by all of his men. Despite the odds he fights against Commodus because he knows his position is not true to Emperor Aurelius’ last wishes.  But most interestingly is his magnetic leadership, which travels beyond his days as a general to his men as Gladiators who look up to him.

During the first battle in the Colosseum Maximus and his men are pitted against a team with vast advantages of better weapons as well as horse and carriages – an arrangement to fix their defeat as they play the losing army of a historical battle.

Maximus unites his men, and they slowly fight their way themselves into more and more advantageous positions, by first destroying one carriage, stealing a horse and slowly transferring the weapons of the opposite team to themselves.  This strategic and intelligent approach to battle gives him great advantage and creates a very intelligent battle scene.

Even at the very end of the film when Commodus has had enough, he stabs Maximus before their battle to weaken him – showing Commodus’ lack of integrity and desperation toward respect and admiration.

Ultimately Maximus fights for his cause awaiting the moment when he can finally rest and see his wife and child ‘in the afterlife’.

The storyline isn’t bad, and the emotion behind Maximus is well portrayed with good storytelling and decent acting by Russell Crowe.

The Afterlife

The Action

As I said earlier, it’s not really a ‘martial arts’ movie – but it does have some good points that any martial arts movie fan can appreciate.

As mentioned above the strategic side of battle is well told during the first fight of the Colosseum, and the action isn’t half bad – but not ‘martial arts’ themed in the traditional sense.

For example – the camera shots are choppy and give you them impression of what happening but a lot of the time nothing is actually shown.  A few slices of sword and axe are about all you really see happen during these battles.  But it is a Hollywood action film and I don’t think the goal was to create an technical battle scene that would stand next to any traditional martial arts film.  Ultimately I think they did a pretty decent job.

The Verdict?

Not a bad battle film, good action and a decent story – not too bad!  Remember, the ‘martial arts’ (hand to hand or weapon based fighting) isn’t to the standard, but it was never meant to be.  Jsut watch and enjoy it as a decent action movie!

On Blu Ray –

Region FREE Plays Anywhere)
Gladiator [Blu-ray]

On DVD –

Region 1 (US & Canada)
Gladiator

Region 2 (UK, Europe, etc)
Gladiator (2000) – Two Disc Set [DVD]

Region 4 (Australia, New Zealand, etc)
Gladiator on DVD 

More info on Movie Regions here.

25 Martial Arts Movies All Fans Must See - FREE


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