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Gladiator - About the Movie
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A big-budget summer epic with money to burn and a scale worthy of its golden Hollywood predecessors, Ridley Scott's Gladiator is a rousing, grisly, action-packed epic that takes moviemaking back to the Roman Empire via computer-generated visual effects.
While not as fluid as the computer work done for, say, Titanic, it's an impressive achievement that will leave you marveling at the glory that was Rome, when you're not marveling at the glory that is Russell Crowe.
Starring as the heroic general Maximus, Crowe firmly cements his star status both in terms of screen presence and acting chops, carrying the film on his decidedly non-computer-generated shoulders as he goes from brave general to wounded fugitive to stoic slave to gladiator hero.
Gladiator's plot is a whirlwind of faux-Shakespearean machinations of death, betrayal, power plays, and secret identities (with lots of faux-Shakespearean dialogue ladled on to keep the proceedings appropriately "classical"), but it's all briskly shot, edited, and paced with a contemporary sensibility.
Even the action scenes, somewhat muted but graphic in terms of implied violence and liberal bloodletting, are shot with a veracity that brings to mind--believe it or not--Saving Private Ryan, even if everyone is wearing a toga.
As Crowe's nemesis, the evil emperor Commodus, Joaquin Phoenix chews scenery with authority, whether he's damning Maximus's popularity with the Roman mobs or lusting after his sister Lucilla (beautiful but distant Connie Nielsen); Oliver Reed, in his last role, hits the perfect notes of camp and gravitas as the slave owner who rescues Maximus from death and turns him into a coliseum star.
Director Scott's visual flair is abundantly in evidence, with breathtaking shots and beautiful (albeit digital) landscapes, but it's Crowe's star power that will keep you in thrall--he's a true gladiator, worthy of his legendary status. Hail the conquering hero!
--Mark Englehart
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Gladiator, By the Numbers
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- The production had a budget of approximately $103 million, much of which was used for computer effects.
- 2,000 extras appear in the Colosseum scenes - but another 33,000 appear cheering alongside them, added via computer during postproduction.
- The film's construction team (consisting of more than 300 technicians from Great Britain and Malta) re-created the Roman Colosseum by constructing the first tier, which measured approximately one-third of the circumference of the 2,000-year-old original and 52 feet high. Computer graphic imaging added the remaining tiers.
- Costume designer Janty Yates and her team created more than 10,000 individual costumes, including 12 versions of Russell Crowe's armor (to account for various stages of wear, as well as stunt doubles).
- In a forest near Farnham, England, the battle between the Roman Legions and the Germanic army was staged, which involved the shooting of 16,000 flaming arrows and 10,000 non-flaming ones.
- Supervising armorer Simon Atherton and his team designed and manufactured more than 2,500 weapons for the film.
- After co-star Oliver Reed died tragically of a heart attack late in shooting, more than $3 million was spent on computer effects to digitally create a death scene for him. This involved scanning a three-dimension image of Reed into computers, manipulating it so that his face could smile and talk, and then digitally pasting Reed's head onto a body double.
- Wardrobe supervisor Rosemary Burrows was responsible for setting up "wardrobe villages" - space for 2,000 extras a day to dress and have their hair and makeup done. This included mud baths for soldiers, who needed a coat of battle grit.
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