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Casey Englund
Mr. Horsley
English 12: Period 2
29 May 2015
Ridley Scott Classic Roman Action Movie
Battle is chaos and the skirmishes in this movie are no different, but one man stood above
the others; the calm before the storm. "On my signal, unleash hell." Gladiator, released in 2000,
is a gritty action movie directed by Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe. This movie is about a
general who was betrayed, captured as a slave, and forced to fight for his life as a gladiator.
Gladiator is a great film because of the exemplary acting of Russell Crowe, and the inspiring
screenwriting by David Franzoni.
One of the reasons behind Gladiator's success is the spectacular acting in the film.
Russell Crowe, who has worked on several famous films such as The Quick and the Dead (2000)
and Les Miserables (2012), performed the lead role of Maximus, a soldier turned gladiator.
Crowe, as Maximus, captivates the audience with violent battle scenes and inspiring speeches.
One critic wrote, "He holds the screen with such assuredness and force you simply can't rip your
eyes away from him. The movie possesses its own gravitational pull" (Nathan). "There's a lot to
like about "Gladiator", but best of all is the performance of the great Russell Crowe"
(DeVillalvilla).
Russell Crowe invests in every role he plays with power and integrity, and certainly
played the character Maximus with no little amount of both. “… He is required to blend the
courage of the empires' finest soldier… with the heartwarming sensitivity of a devoted family
man, and does so brilliantly, often with little more than a fixed laser stare...” (Lee) “[Russell
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Crowe] treats a sword like Ginger Rogers, twirling it masterfully and snatching it out of the air
while on horseback – the kind of action flash inspired by Hong Kong movies.” (Mitchell)
The lead role of Maximus, while not the kind of role that gets actors an Oscar, helped
elevate Russell Crowe into major stardom. For his efforts, Crowe earned the movie several
awards. According to a Wikipedia article, “Gladiator won the Academy Award for "Best Actor
in a Leading Role" and "Best Picture", and the BAFTA "Best Film" award.” (Gladiator) Most
impressively, the movie won the Golden Globe award for "Best Motion Picture".
In the beginning scenes of Gladiator, Maximus gives a stirring speech to the soldiers
under his command as they prepare to fight off the savages of Germania. He tells them, "What
we do in life, echoes in eternity." These words are just part of the screenwriting that David
Franzoni, John Logan, and William Nicholson helped create. These men have helped write some
of the best movies in the past twenty years, such as The Last Samurai (2013), King Arthur
(2004), and the First Knight (1995), though I fear that Gladiator does not receive enough praise
for its screenplay.
The original screenplay was created by David Franzoni. He wanted to write the movie
based off facts in real life. The director, Ridley Scott, decided that the screenplay was a little
dry, and brought in John Logan for a rewrite. The bulk of the first two of Logan's acts were far
closer to what was actually filmed. Logan was the one who came up with the idea of killing
Maximus' family, an idea that Franzoni had difficulty with: "Creatively, I was concerned when
the family was dropped out of the script. As originally written, that's a big part of what
motivates the hero. And then I saw the first cut, suddenly, the "family" was back in - Ridley had
shot some pickups in Italy while scouting Hannibal, and there it was, the emotional element I
wanted." (Rich) Two weeks before filming began, Ridley Scott once again intervened and asked
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William Nicholson to add to the storyline to keep it from making Maximus into a man hell bent
on revenge.
As you can see, Gladiator is an exemplary film. The spectacular acting, and the inspiring
screenwriting make this movie memorable. Film critic Ian Nathan says, “The sheer dynamism of
the action, coupled with Hans Zimmers lavish score and the force of the force field of Crowe,
still makes this a fierce some competitor in the summer movie stakes.” (Nathan)
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Works Cited
DeVillalvilla, Carlos. "An Epic Effort." 31 May 2015. <www.regardingarts.com>.
"Gladiator (2000) Film." 30 April 2015. <www.wikipedia.org>.
Lee, Mare. "Gladiator, review." 21 May 2015. <www.telegraph.co.uk>.
Mitchell, Elvis. “Gladiator (2000).” 21 May 2015. <www.nytimes.com>.
Nathan, Ian. "Gladiator." 21 May 2015. <www.empireonline.com>.
Rich, William Robert. "Gladiator Screenplay." 31 May 2015. <www.screenplayhowto.com>.