Gladiator was a great movie for any fan of intense action and fighting movies. I thought Gladiator was an interesting, dramatic come back story. Scott used similar cinematic techniques as he did in Kingdom of Heaven. Scott uses slow motion in battle scenes again throughout the film, but this time I noticed during these shots he used a hand held camera. I think Scott's trying to give the viewer a feeling of confusion, so you feel more like Maximus does.
In Roger Ebert's review of Gladiator http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20000505/REVIEWS/5050301/1023, he claims:
"A foolish choice in art direction casts a pall over Ridley Scott's "Gladiator" that no swordplay can cut through. The film looks muddy, fuzzy and indistinct."
This shocked me because I thought Ebert would say something good about a five time winner at the Oscars. I thought the film was dark and fuzzy because Scott was emphasizing how bad Maximus' situation was. The film became sherry at the end, while still haviong a tragic ending. One thing I agreed with Ebert on was how bad the special effects were, specifically the Colosseum. It bothered me how fake the long/extreme long shots of the Colosseum looked so fake. Ebert quoted:
"This darkness and a lack of detail in the long shots helps obscure shabby special effects (the Colosseum in Rome looks like a model from a computer game), and the characters bring no cheer:"
I noticed the bad special effects right away when Maximus arrives in Rome. In my mind the acting in this film was top notch. In a movie like Gladiator the characters are going to be very serious and not funny and happy. A happy Russell Crowe is not what this movie needed. I thought he took this role of Maximus whole heartedly and had a great performance. Throughout the movie Maximus has no fear of death and looks like he's on the edge of insanity. This led to the intense action scenes that I enjoy in movies.
There was a lot of violence in the movie and I thought Scott did a good job maintaining the amount of blood splattering from a cut of a sword. I thought when the messenger got his head cut off by the German barbarians it was as unrealistic as possible. The neck didn't look believable along with the face.
The flash back helps foreshadow that maximus is going to die because each time maximus is getting closer to death you see more from that flash back in Maximus' head. Another thing that recurs throughout the movie is when maximus picks up sand and rubs it in his hands before every battle/fight. I haven't figured out if this action has any significance or if it's just a prefight ritual of Maximus'.
Overall, I thought Gladiator was a great movie. I liked the story line and action. I thought the special effects and long shots needed improvement, but it was nothing too distracting from the movie.
4 comments:
sorry it took so long to post my computer was down.
Jake,
You can turn it in on Thurs. I am concerned about your access to the movie. Did you rent it?
Yea, i definetly agree about Scott trying to put us is the a sense of confusion and chaos. I really feel like Scott mainly uses these scenes to put us in the shoes of the character (maximus) so that we can start to comprehend as viewers the emotions and viewpoint of the character.
I never noticed the special effects in the background. Looking back on it now, I think you make a good point. The acting and the action pulled the movie along, but the special effects were lacking. The "smudged" film relieved some of the poor effects, but it would have been nicer if they had invested more time in improving the scenery instead of covering it up.
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