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Gladiator review from the Norwegian Magazine Filmmagasinet. The movie got a perfect six out of six possible.

Roman Action to 6

To put it mildly, the gladiator movies have long been a dying genre. When it is now revived, it is in an amazingly well-done movie. Two and a half hours have rarely seemed this short.

The year is 180 A.D. and the death of emperor Marcus Aurelius throws Rome into chaos. Maximus (Russell Crowe) is one of the deceased emperor's best and most faithful generals. He is the one the emperor wants as his succeedor. But Commodus, the emperor's son, kills his father to reign. Maximus is stripped of all honour and attempted killed by Commodus who is afraid to lose his reign.

Maximus escapes from his killers, but both his wife and his son are killed. He is then taken a slave and sold as a gladiator. His experiences in battle pays off in the gladiator fights, and he becomes the audience's favourite and ends up in the Colosseum in Rome. Here he sees the opportunity to get his revenge over the new emperor. From the gladiator arena he challenges the emperor's position, and it all ends with a final battle between the two of them.

Even though Russell Crowe's character is fictional, most of the film is based on historical persons and events.

Russell Crowe is brilliant as the general who becomes a slave and a gladiator. Who else could imagine him in such a role after seeing the chubby version of him in The Insider. The Insider gave him an Oscar nomination. There is no reason for him to settle for anything less next year. We haven't seen a Roman with such an authority and strenght since Charlton Heston's Ben Hur.

And we haven't seen such powerful battle scenes since Kurosawa's Ran. The British Ridley Scott is the king when it comes to action scenes, and he proves this in this movie. Earlier, he has shown that he is the master of historical movies - The Duellist and 1492: Conquest of Paradise are good examples of that. At the same time, movies like Aliens, Blade Runner and Thelma & Louise show that he is one of few directors who can do most genres - and he exploits this to the maximum in Gladiator.

As a historical epos, this is a movie which is able to engage both the historically interested and those who just wants to see a different action movie. This is a true winner at next year's Academy Awards.

Reviewed by Geir Kamsvåg
Translated by Kim E.

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