Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Gladiator (2000)

K: I didn't see this film when it first came out (at the time, I was living in Grinnell, IA, which has one movie theater...sometimes) but the Michigan screened it as part of their great directors series. You all have probably already seen it (and I have to get back to work), so I will keep this brief.

1) It was really good to see it on the big screen. Unfortunately, I don't think that it would be nearly as powerful on a small screen.

2) Russel Crowe is really good. Maybe not oscar good...but I understand it was a slow year (once again...no movie theater in 2000). He did very well with the really gung-ho, let-loose parts of the film, but I thought that he did a particularly good job with some of the more subtle scenes, where he is concealing thoughts, containing anger, or making transitions.

3) Given the genre, the director and cinematographer did some fairly innovative things--the battle scenes were especially good.

4) Unfortunately for me, the exact things that made the movie good also made it difficult to watch. It is a fairly intense experience, and left me fairly worn out.

5) This is embarrassing, but I...um...cried. A lot. This is somewhat unusual for me, but I couldn't help it. It was moving. I was doing ok until the last time he walks through the field. I just lost it. Something about going home to those you love really hits me hard.

On the whole, it was definitely worth seeing. I would even say worth the Oscars it won. Certainly not on par with No Country for Old Men, but WAY better than Titanic.

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1 Comments:

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