Lesson Plan #11 - Movie Review
Note: We recommend that you print this article
and distribute it to your students.
A Hero will Rise: A Review of
Gladiator
By: Ashleigh Viveiros, SNN
Reporter, Garden Valley Collegiate, Winkler, MB.
If you want to see a truly spectacular
epic that takes place in Ancient Rome, this is definitely the
one to see. Set in the time when Rome was the world, this movie
gives you a sense of what it was like to be a Roman. Directed
by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner) and with a group of actors that
truly fit their parts, Gladiator is destined to be a box office
hit.
Starting off with a fast-paced battle scene
between the famous Roman army and the Germanic tribes, this movie
starts right off by showing you that it isn't for the squeamish.
With heads and other body parts flying around, it can at times
be disgusting, but the camera angles are expertly done in such
a way so that you really only get a sense of the bloody battle
as opposed to an "in your face" bloodbath.
Enter Maximus, a brilliant warrior and a beloved leader of his
troops. Russell Crowe is perfectly cast as this Roman war hero
who just wants to get home to his farm. Emperor Marcus Aurelius
(played by Richard Harris) joins Maximus after the battle, and
tells him that he wants Maximus to succeed him. Aurelius feels
that only Maximus can lead Rome back to the Republic it once
was.
This decision upsets Aurelius's son, Commodus
(Joaquin Phoenix). A wicked, spoiled brat who feels that because
his father sees that he isn't capable of being emperor it means
he doesn't love him. So Commodus kills Aurelius and sends Maximus
to be executed. Maximus escapes, only to find upon returning
home that Commodus also had his wife and son murdered as well.
After being captured by a slave merchant
and trained to be a gladiator, Maximus soon finds himself fighting
in the Coliseum right in front of Emperor Commodus. I won't give
anymore of the story away, but let's just say that rest of the
movie is great. The fight scenes in the Coliseum are both fascinating
and disturbing as you watch thousands of people cheering for
the slaughter of innocent men and animals.
The visual effects in Gladiator are amazing.
Suddenly the ruins in Rome become massive structures, like the
Coliseum. While watching Maximus travel through the city, you
can't help but find yourself in awe of the scale of it.
Gladiator is definitely a movie for history
buffs, and one of the best movies I've seen in awhile. It is
the first really good movie of this century.