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"I am Maximus Decimus Meridius..."

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Wynnebeck said:
That's not even the best line of the movie. Give it up for my boy:

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.
 
Crowe did a fantastic job in Gladiator, people don't really appreciate it and even complained that he got an Oscar for it, but it's not easy to play this kind of larger than life "badass" role in a movie of this sort, and do it believably and with true emotion. Brad Pitt couldn't crack it in Troy, despite being a good actor on his own right.
 
I just can't get over the ridiculous number of inaccuracies in the film. Gets in the way of me enjoying it.
I mean, do people actually do any research?
 
RELAYER said:
Russel Crow is ok in this scene but it's Joaquin Phoenix who really elevates it to something special.
People overlook it because his performance here is wordless, but that's what makes it all the more powerful.
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While I agree that Phoenix definitely enhanced the drama, Crowe is still the primary source of emotion so palpable in the scene.
 
Galvanise_ said:
I just can't get over the ridiculous number of inaccuracies in the film. Gets in the way of me enjoying it.
I mean, do people actually do any research?
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They probably did do a lot of research.

And they undoubtedly did not give a fuck.

And that's okay.
 
Galvanise_ said:
I just can't get over the ridiculous number of inaccuracies in the film. Gets in the way of me enjoying it.
I mean, do people actually do any research?
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They had a historical adviser for the film they just ignored the adviser if it ran contrary to anything a person in authority wanted. All big Hollywood films with terrible science/history have advisers who try as hard as they can. If I remember correctly the adviser to the movie The Core is the reason the vehicle tunneling to the center of the earth did not have a window in the front and they did not see any dinosaur bones through said window when they drilled through the Mariana's Trench. That movie has terrible science but it could have been worse.
 
Amazing film. I'm still waiting for the day that Scott makes another film as great as this. The director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven is the closest he's gotten to it post-Gladiator, but since the theatrical cut got butchered public perception of the film isn't as positive as it deserves.

I'm not sold on 4K films just yet, but this might just be one of the films to pull me into it if Paramount/Universal decide to release it. I've seen some amazing films through the years, but this film always held a special place in my library.
 
I'm a sucker for sweeping epics like this. Loved this, Braveheart, Kingdom of Heaven DC...I even enjoyed The Last Samurai. Shame there hasn't been anything great in this vein for awhile.
 
piratepwnsninja said:
I'm a sucker for sweeping epics like this. Loved this, Braveheart, Kingdom of Heaven DC...I even enjoyed The Last Samurai. Shame there hasn't been anything great in this vein for awhile.
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TLS is great, man. What's this "even enjoyed" stuff.

I recommend to you Master And Commander, although it's more the swashbuckling type movie, set on a 19th century warship at sea. Bluray is only five bux at amazon. Starring Russell Crowe as well.
 
this is by far and i mean by far the best movie i have ever seen in all my years of life, everything was perfect, with braveheart a close second and the last samurai on third
 
Subpar Spatula said:
I figure he was still loyal to a degree it's that no one in that movie could make a move if they had something to lose. If the Emperor said he was going to fight him he can't back down or else he loses his power over Rome. If Quintus wanted to push back this is the perfect time. I do agree, though, he's not fleshed out at all so it does seem odd. I just figure he's going through the same motions as the sister, senators, etc. The only people who could do anything were those with nothing else to lose.
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Well, at the end of the day the guy was the Emperor. If the Emperor says to kill a "traitor" General and his whole family then you do it.

EDIT:

DontBeThatGuy said:
It's a boring script, and the action scenes aren't much better, especially watching them now. It's also damn near 3 hours long, for some reason.
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Hey man, DontBeThatGuy.
 
jett said:
Crowe did a fantastic job in Gladiator, people don't really appreciate it and even complained that he got an Oscar for it, but it's not easy to play this kind of larger than life "badass" role in a movie of this sort, and do it believably and with true emotion. Brad Pitt couldn't crack it in Troy, despite being a good actor on his own right.
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This. So much this.

The skills required to be leading man in a movie like that are very underrated. Compare the performances of people actors like Crowe and even Mel Gibson and performances by Christian Bale when he is in "leading man" mode. There is a huge difference.

And I don't mean that as a diss against Christian Bale. He is one of my favorite actors. I love him when he is acting as a character, like in The Fighter or American Hustle. Not so much as a "leading man".

foxtrot3d said:
Well, at the end of the day the guy was the Emperor. If the Emperor says to kill a "traitor" General and his whole family then you do it.
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Unless you decided not to....... Being a roman emperor in late antiquity started to resemble being king in Game of Thrones as the empire really started to decline. I'd love to see an HBO series set in that time period.
 
Outstanding movie in pretty much every way.

As someone said, manly tears are shed when watching this (still)...don't really have a favourite moment, but if I had to choose probably the scene in the OP...
or when Maximus returns home to find his wife and child hung and burned
...or JP saying 'Busy, Little. Bee'...or 'and how she moaned like a whore as they wavaged her, again and again and again.'

Holy shit, even tho Crowe gets the big speech, JP gets the best lines.

Dammit, I have to watch this again.
 
The Extended Edition DVD had a really great trivia track for the movie - I might need to dig that up and watch it again.
 
I highly recommend the commentary with Crowe and Scott, it's a good one. It was interesting listening to them talking about how the script had to be changed following Oliver Reed's death. The film originally ended with Reed's character (Proximo) burying Maximus' sword in the Colosseum instead of Juba burying Maximus' wooden figurines.

Russel Crowe also tells a story or two about what a massive asshole Oliver Reed was lol.
 
Hans Zimmer delivered a masterpiece of a soundtrack. Almost every track has that special "something" where the second it starts, you know that it's from Gladiator.
 
jett said:
Crowe did a fantastic job in Gladiator, people don't really appreciate it and even complained that he got an Oscar for it, but it's not easy to play this kind of larger than life "badass" role in a movie of this sort, and do it believably and with true emotion. Brad Pitt couldn't crack it in Troy, despite being a good actor on his own right.
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Yep.

I was one of those people that thought he didn't deserve it at the time but in hindsight I have developed this mindset.

Pulling this off is HARD. Carrying an epic movie that asks the actor to carry the movie and be able to shift between a action hero and hit the notes along the spectrum of drama while remaining believable and charismatic is not easy. A lot of that script could of been laughably cheesy in an overwhelming majority of actors hands but he pulled it off.

The list of failures in terms of actors attempting the same feat is a lot longer then the successes. The last person to successfully do it before Crowe - that comes to mind - was Mel Gibson in Braveheart.
 
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