GLADIATOR
Presented To: Mr. Brown
Written By: Alex Ling
Submitted: Monday, May 30th, 2005
Movie Review
Gladiator is a well constructed movie about life in ancient Roman times. It focuses on the Gladiatorial games and the corruption of the Roman emperors, adding in a great deal of action as well. The main idea of the movie is to show what Rome was like in ancient times. It is a “period film” (a film about an actual period in time) that illustrates the life of the slaves, the common roman citizen, the warriors, the General, the political figures, the emperors and, of course, the gladiator. The director Ridley Scott does an excellent job of recreating the situations and settings, allowing the audience to enter into the Roman world and feel that it actually existed. The actual story of the movie compares the life a gladiator with the life of a Roman Emperor, Commodus. It is about the great General Maximus, who becomes a slave, who then becomes a Gladiator and defies the corrupt Emperor Commodus. The story itself is possible, but not likely as the actions of the emperor are probably not realistic. However, the movie holds much historical accuracy and shows how no matter who the emperor is, everyone else is his puppet and must follow his every order. Maximus, who is thought to be a slave, rises up to become one of the greatest warriors anyone has ever seen. This entices the people of Rome, and he begins to gain more power than the Emperor himself. The theme of the movie starts off as being about the success and joy of completely expanding the Roman Empire. It then shifts to an evil and traitorous feeling when Commodus decides to kill his father and take Rome from Maximus. This is further intensified when he finds out that his sister is betraying him, and then finally the feeling returns to peace and relief at the end of the film. Overall this film is an excellent recreation of the life in ancient Rome, combining many different themes with historical facts...