Maximus Maximus!!!. Review on Gladiator Movie

Gladiator is one of the best Roman epic films you'd ever see. The cast consists of the energetic Russel Crowe who plays the Roman General Maximus, the evil Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix).

The story goes like this. Sometime during the 2nd century A.D. there was a Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) who waged war against the northern barbaric tribes. His General i.e. Maximus is in charge and ultimately wins the war. Well this is just the prelude. Maximus wins the goodwill of the army and is treated like a son by the emperor Marcus. In fact Marcus actually adores Maximus and sees in him the making of a king. So as in any Roman epic the question does arise : Who is the villain of the story?

Well I forgot to mention one fact. Marcus has a son Commodus who is jealous of Maximus. This jealousy arises due to the imbalance of virtues between the two. Maximus is always seen as the hero of Rome, winning battles and glorifying Rome, having an impeccable character and gaining the respect of his peers and army. On the other hand you have Commodus who is never given as much importance as Maximus. So Since Marcus sees such a fine emperor in Maximus and also since he knows that his time is near, Marcus decides to hand over all his power to Maximus. The idea is to set Rome free by handing it over to the senate of ministers who will then probably run some kind of democratic state. However Commodus has other plans. Since Marcus the old emperor tells Maximus all this in a secret meeting, Commodus conveniently gets rid of his own father, and then declares himself emperor. He then 1orders the execution of Maximus and his kin. Maximus however escapes (he's unable to save his family),

and falls into the hands of Proximo(Oliver Reed) who is in the business of buying slaves and profiting by their death. After this I really don't want to explain what happens as this would ruin a perfectly good story for the guys who haven't seen it. The other aspect of the movie is the role played by Commodus's sister Lucilla (Connie Nielsen). Lucilla is again a picture of a virtuous person, very much like Maximus. She is courageous, intelligent and puts up with her brother's misbehavior and cruelty. Connie Nielsen does her part well and I have no complaints about her role. She also has a son Lucius Veras (Spencer Treat Clark) who is at an impressionable age and is the obvious target of Commodus.

The movie as a whole is really entertaining. The only negative is that the movie does not portray a true image of Maximus or Commodus. Take for instance the character of Maximus. He is the perfect human, good husband, loving Dad, brilliant General, honorable and courteous whereas his counterpart is the total opposite. Commodus is truly evil, abhors his father, the emperor Marcus, hates Maximus, sadistic in nature and so on. I have a belief that no one person can be totally evil or totally benevolent, kind…. in other words flawless.

The moral i.e. the vision of Maximus and the film makers is what makes the movie so wonderful. The philosophical note in the beginning ''What we do in life echoes in eternity'' sums up the entire movie for me. It makes us all sit back for a while and think ''Which road shall we traverse to carve our destiny?''

Acting by Russel Crowe is impeccable, he won an oscar for this role. Commodus i.e Joaquin Phoenix is really very talented. The portrayal of someone so malicious and evil couldn't have been done better by anyone else. As for the rest of the cast they perform well and I must say an overall good performance. The movie is never boring. You will never really find a dull moment. The camerawork is breathtaking and the music is well really soothing i.e. in the emotional scenes. On the whole a fantastic package. A must see for those who haven't seen this one yet.