Gladiator (2000)
The primary focus of this podcast episode is the cinematic masterpiece "Gladiator," a film that has garnered significant acclaim for its storytelling and performances. We delve into the intricate narrative of a former Roman general who embarks on a quest for vengeance against a corrupt emperor, a tale that resonates with themes of honor, redemption, and the struggle for justice. Our discussion highlights the exceptional performances by Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix, as well as the directorial prowess of Ridley Scott, whose artistic vision elevates the film to an extraordinary level. Throughout the conversation, we explore the film's profound emotional depth, the significance of its score by Hans Zimmer, and the masterful construction of scenes that captivate the audience. Ultimately, we reaffirm our conviction that "Gladiator" stands as a monumental achievement in cinema, deserving of its place in the pantheon of great films.
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Transcript
As the, you know, the silence before you strike and the noise afterwards.
Speaker A:It's like it rises, rises up like, like, like a storm.
Speaker A:Like you can just feel like I'm again, I'm getting gooseblting.
Speaker A:You can feel that this dude is just like in it.
Speaker A:And he knows.
Speaker A:Welcome to the what's up Podcast where we fashion ourselves cinematic judge and Jerry.
Speaker A:My name is JJ cr.
Speaker A:I'm here with my co host I Alec Burgess.
Speaker B:Let's get it.
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Speaker A:We are in our final week of Blockbuster month and again, not the video rental store, but movies that broke the box office bank, if you will.
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Speaker A:But yeah, let's jump into this week's movie.
Speaker A:It is Gladiator.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker A:It was written by David Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson.
Speaker A:It was directed by Ridley Scott.
Speaker A:It stars.
Speaker A:Okay, let me get my together here.
Speaker A:It stars Russell Crowe, walking Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, Derek Jacoby, Diamond Honu, David Shield, John Shrapnel, Thomas Arana, Ralph Moler and Spencer Treat Clark.
Speaker A:I'm gonna stop there.
Speaker A:I could keep going because, I mean there's Tommy Flan.
Speaker A:I mean there's so many.
Speaker A:But anyway, it's about a former Roman general who sets out to exact vengeance against the corrupt emperor who murdered his family and sent him into slavery.
Speaker A:I knew it was gonna suck, that that was gonna be a shitty synopsis.
Speaker A:I just knew it.
Speaker A:Like, why is it always the great movies that have the shittiest synopses?
Speaker A:Anywho, this is my movie, so I will kick us off.
Speaker A:I picked this movie because I think it's one of the best movies ever made.
Speaker A:And so when it came down to, like, I'm not even gonna try to hide it at this point, like, when it came down to blockbuster movies, this was.
Speaker A:This is almost always one of the first ones, if not the first movie I think of.
Speaker A:And it was another one that, like last week when we talked about Pirates of the Caribbean, nobody was ready for this movie.
Speaker A:Like, again, at the time, Russell Crowe, people knew who he was, but he hadn't carried a film in the States and in, you know, Hollywood.
Speaker A:He'd had some big success in Australia and other places, but he was never like.
Speaker A:And he had a couple of movies that were like, okay, that's Russell Crowe.
Speaker A:But this, when he came in, nobody knew.
Speaker A:Not like this level, right?
Speaker A:People knew who Connie Nielsen were.
Speaker A:They knew who the older guys were.
Speaker A:But what they did know was Ridley Scott, right?
Speaker A:And Ridley Scott does nothing half ass.
Speaker A:Like, so Ridley Scott's what got me.
Speaker A:Huge Alien fan.
Speaker A:I. I love Ridley Scott and to his brother, I love both of the Scots in their movies, right?
Speaker A:So when I went and saw this movie, it was right before I left for two years to Arizona, where I wasn't able to watch movies for two years.
Speaker A:And I saw this.
Speaker A:It was a month before I left when it came out, give or take.
Speaker A:I probably saw this six times in the theaters.
Speaker A:And this is a long movie.
Speaker B:Like, it's.
Speaker A:That was a commitment to see it, but it was worth it to me every single time.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And there's a lot of reasons, but that's much I'm sure we'll talk about.
Speaker A:But, yeah, this movie to me was just so good and even in spite of itself, because it's.
Speaker A:It's a tale as old as time, if you will.
Speaker A:Like, this is not a new storyline.
Speaker A:Maybe it was unique at the time and how they were telling it, like within the time period period.
Speaker A:And the structure.
Speaker A:But the story itself, the redemption arc, the vengeance arc, all that stuff, like the becoming a hero accidentally when you're trying to do something that could be looked upon as quite shitty, you know what I mean?
Speaker A:Like, it's.
Speaker A:It's one of those things but it's done so well.
Speaker A:And Joaquin Phoenix, this was.
Speaker A:This launched his ass into the stratosphere.
Speaker A:Rightly so.
Speaker A:And then he got a little weird, but I think he was always that weird.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:Which is why he was so good in this as Comedist.
Speaker A:But it's just, man, there's so many good performances.
Speaker A:And, like, this movie to me is just so fascinating and it keeps my attention.
Speaker A:And I'm rooting for so many things in this movie that I just can't.
Speaker A:Like, even now, I'm getting amped just talking about it, because that's what this movie does to me.
Speaker A:So when it.
Speaker A:Again, this is one that I've saved for the right time.
Speaker A:And so when blockbusters came, I was like, okay, this is.
Speaker A:This has got to be the time.
Speaker A:I put Gladiator on the list.
Speaker A:So that's why I picked it.
Speaker A:What about you, man?
Speaker A:Again, you were child when this came out.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So it took a while for me to actually see.
Speaker A:Because you were younger when this came out.
Speaker B:When.
Speaker B:When this came out.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:God damn.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So actually, I didn't even turn seven yet because it was May, right?
Speaker B:I was six.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Turned seven in July that year.
Speaker B:So, yeah, it took a little bit for me to see this.
Speaker B:But it's not much to add to what you said, except that, you know, all these performances that they had that were so good, they stacked on one another, which is really tricky to do.
Speaker B:And so, like, let's take Russell Crowe, right?
Speaker B:Because, I mean, it's been moving through social media all the different one off, especially with the second one coming out a couple years ago where they, you know, revisit this or every interview he does, they bring up Gladiator at some point and he'll share a new story about it or what have you.
Speaker B:But it's all the little things, the little movements that he does that really kind of tipped this performance into something more because you have this, you know, opening sequence with the fight and everything.
Speaker B:Roman general out the field of battle.
Speaker B:Great place to start a movie, by the way.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:But it's, you know, he.
Speaker B:He bends down, he rubs the dirt in his hands, or he's got his dog walking by.
Speaker B:You could, you know, you see all the costumes, they all have dirt on.
Speaker B:They're all grimy.
Speaker B:You know, it looks like these guys have been on campaign for several years.
Speaker B:Yeah, right.
Speaker B:And so it's these little kind of, you know, little things.
Speaker B:And really, Scott does this really well when he's directing, but it's these nuances, these Actions, Everything has a purpose.
Speaker B:Everything makes sense.
Speaker B:You do things for a reason.
Speaker B:And then the practical effects on this.
Speaker B:They're actually firing scorpions.
Speaker B:So it.
Speaker A:That used.
Speaker B:Well on top of actually looking lived in, being there.
Speaker B:And they do.
Speaker B:Joaquin Phoenix does such a great job of playing like, you know, the spoiled rotten little brat that jealous spoiled rotten little brat, you know, put in there.
Speaker B:And so it's such a great antagonist for Russell Crowe.
Speaker B:And it just.
Speaker B:Great opening and then just keeps on going up.
Speaker B:And even the parts where it kind of slows down a little bit where you kind of.
Speaker B:At least for me, when he.
Speaker B:When they get back to Rome and you have this kind of slowdown.
Speaker B:He's been a gladiator for a while now.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:They're doing the.
Speaker B:The whole gladiator through and it's almost run its course.
Speaker B:They throw in tawny Tommy Flanagan and they throw in this, you know, secondary layer of, oh, now there's a purpose.
Speaker B:Right now we have a purpose.
Speaker B:The army's camped right outside.
Speaker B:You know, he's got a chance to actually revisit this dream because he's lost it over the last several years.
Speaker B:Have you been.
Speaker B:So it's such a great pacing of.
Speaker B:As soon as the movie kind of starts to die off or taper or you're becoming kind of complacent with what it is, it changes directions and it goes a whole way.
Speaker B:And so even though it is long for a movie, it doesn't feel as long as it's time.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so it's just very, very well done.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:So this movie is my first thing.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:First thing I want to talk about this movie is this is my argument when people talk about Zack Snyder.
Speaker A:I wish Mata was here because this would be.
Speaker A:He has such a issue with Zack Snider, and so do I on so many levels.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:Well, he's got it for one particular reason.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I was just say his problem is very different than my problem.
Speaker A:But like Zack Snyder, to me, while very good at what he does, and I've talked about this a million times on the podcast, is he's very good at moments, not scenes.
Speaker A:This movie to me is the epitome of the exact.
Speaker A:This.
Speaker A:It's the antithesis of.
Speaker A:Of Zack Snyder.
Speaker A:And Ridley Scott has always been that way.
Speaker A:He's the master of scenes that are built together to make a movie that you cannot stop watching versus a movie that feels like two and a half hours.
Speaker A:But you have moments where you're like, oh, that was good.
Speaker A:This is the connectivity and it has that connecting tissue throughout the movie that it moves from scene to scene in a way that you're like, we're traveling to the next scene, and I cannot wait, right?
Speaker A:And no matter how long it is between those epic scenes.
Speaker A:So I.
Speaker A:The first epic scene I always think of, besides the opening battle is you introduce.
Speaker A:And the speech that he gives, right?
Speaker A:Like, to his.
Speaker A:To his calvary.
Speaker A:Guy like that is like the introduction to who Maximus is, right?
Speaker A:So you have this.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:To me, that's a moment because you have to have something where you're like, get your attention.
Speaker A:And then you're introduced to Comedist with his little battle with the Praetorian.
Speaker A:And he's.
Speaker A:You can see that he's.
Speaker A:He's not inept.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Even though he's an idiot, he's not inept.
Speaker A:Like, he can fight.
Speaker A:He can handle his own.
Speaker A:But then you move from that to this very peaceful, serene scene between Emperor and Maximus, right?
Speaker A:And where he's.
Speaker A:He's asked, tell me about home.
Speaker A:Like, he's about to ask this man to give up everything.
Speaker A:And now he's telling him, asking him to.
Speaker A:Before he asks him to do that, ask him to tell me what your motivation is.
Speaker A:Basically, like, why.
Speaker A:Why are you here?
Speaker A:What are you fighting for?
Speaker A:Like, what's important to you?
Speaker A:What are you going home to?
Speaker A:And that scene, like, sets the tone to me even more than the opening battle does.
Speaker A:Because we're seeing what kind of man he actually is.
Speaker A:You get a glimpse of it, but he's still a soldier in that moment, in the early.
Speaker A:Then you have that scene, and then you move from that scene to the interaction between Commodus and his dad, right?
Speaker A:And Aurelius and Communist.
Speaker A:Having this conversation, you're like, the dynamic is so different, but it doesn't work if you didn't have that precursor.
Speaker A:And it almost.
Speaker A:It doesn't almost.
Speaker A:It also reinforces the.
Speaker A:The conversation we just had between Marcus and Maximus makes it even stronger because we're now seeing this father and son duo that's just not a real father and son duo at this point.
Speaker A:So that whole first 45 minutes of this movie, like, is just, to me, like a master class in scene after scene after scene.
Speaker A:And then you have some lull, like the traveling back to Rome.
Speaker A:But that, to me is like.
Speaker A:I look at this and go, this is scenes that are built in a way that tell a story from start to finish.
Speaker A:It's not this story that's filled with great moments.
Speaker A:It's moments, if you will, or Scenes that make a great movie and a great story overall.
Speaker A:And that's my favorite part of this movie, is there's not a moment that's wasted in this movie.
Speaker A:Almost everything that you.
Speaker A:You name a scene.
Speaker A:And we could probably talk about how it adds value to this 2 1/2 hour spraw epic movie.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And that to me is why I love people like Ridley Scott and these movie, these directors that are very thoughtful about the whole movie.
Speaker A:Not just let's have these epic scenes or epic moments where we're like, it'll carry you through to the next one.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So anyway, I had to have my rant there, but that's why I always, I always think about when people talk about how much they love Zack Snyder.
Speaker A:I'm like, then you need to go watch.
Speaker A:I'm not arguing he makes great movies from a certain point of view.
Speaker A:But you got to go watch a Ridley Scott, you got to go watch a Gore Verbinski.
Speaker A:You got to go watch these old school guys that knew how to do it both ways instead of just carrying us through moment to moment.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Anyway, there's my rant for the podcast.
Speaker B:I agree.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:I knew we were friends.
Speaker B:It's a, it's a really good way to put it because there is really no wasted time, effort or energy.
Speaker B:And I mean you, you brought up the conversations with the Marcus Aurelius and Richard Harris has three minutes in this movie and God damn, I want more.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:And that's mostly.
Speaker B:That's Richard Harris and this is one of his last movies that I think he did.
Speaker A:It is one of his last, but.
Speaker B:It's just his voice carries well, he's got that kind of quiet power and authority in all his characters that he plays.
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker B:He can communicate so much by just being like, ah, right.
Speaker B:Like the, A simple acknowledgment of something that's happening.
Speaker B:He can be so expressive and you feel like you're with someone who has literally spent the last 40 years trying to build up a room that he envisioned as a young man.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And he probably was on set for four days.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's crazy, dude.
Speaker B:It's crazy to think nuts.
Speaker B:But it is, it is incredible to then be able to have that in there.
Speaker B:And then, you know, again you get all excited.
Speaker B:You have this, oh, wow, they're gonna give Rome back to the people.
Speaker B:You know, give up power.
Speaker B:This is great.
Speaker B:I love it.
Speaker B:And then it just takes you off a cliff and you're spend just like it.
Speaker B:It just keeps going down to one of the darkest places where now you have Russell Crowe really get an opportunity to show his great acting chops when he gets back home and he sees his wife and his kid and just the letting out all the emotion of this happening.
Speaker B:It's like, dude, they really killed his wife.
Speaker B:Yeah, like.
Speaker B:Like that.
Speaker B:That is just.
Speaker B:And at that point, we're what, 35 minutes into the movie.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:For the next two hours, they keep that almost in the background as they're building up.
Speaker B:And, you know, they really.
Speaker B:Scott's like, hey, this is the motivation right here.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And makes sense.
Speaker B:But he also takes time to show the despair.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:That this is going through.
Speaker B:And the.
Speaker B:The fallen.
Speaker B:The fallen hero.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:What's the point?
Speaker B:Can't do this.
Speaker B:Blah, blah, blah.
Speaker B:And then getting that purpose back, getting a reason to kind of move forward back and just adding more and more and more to.
Speaker B:And, you know, then the dream that was Rome starts poking its way back through, and you have a little bit more reason, a little bit more reason.
Speaker B:And while.
Speaker B:While he's pulling Maximus back in, we're also getting pulled back in at the same time to, oh, wait a minute, there was a dream.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Gonna be realized.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Type of a thing.
Speaker B:Like, here we go.
Speaker B:Here we go.
Speaker B:And then it all, you know, blossoms into really good, epic ending.
Speaker B:Oh, and there's, like.
Speaker B:There's two movies that I really like for the way they portray the afterlife.
Speaker B:This is one of them.
Speaker B:The other one's Titanic.
Speaker B:And so regarding your personal beliefs, this or that, whatever, this one is one where it's like, they do such a good job both on the directing aspect and then acting, where you kind of have Maximus is going in between two worlds.
Speaker A:Oh, I love it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And it's so well done where you got Russell Crowe.
Speaker B:He's opening the door.
Speaker B:He's got his hand out, just going through.
Speaker B:And you're cutting back and forth between what he's seen versus what everybody in the, you know, arena scene, Coliseum.
Speaker B:And it's just so great.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Have this image kind of going back and forth.
Speaker B:And so those are.
Speaker B:So this is one of the movies where it's like, hey, you want to, like, phenomenal representation of an afterlife here.
Speaker B:You got to watch two and a half hours to get there first.
Speaker B:But, yeah, let me show you.
Speaker B:Because it's such a great way to wrap up the movie as a whole.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker B:It's one of the last scenes that we get to see before they actually close it off.
Speaker B:And it's just so well Done.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I'll even add to that that I love the.
Speaker A:The bookend of it because at the very beginning, we see him fully alive and healthy, having the mental vision of that same Elysium right where he's walking through and touching the wheat and headed home.
Speaker A:And that you can almost like.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker A:I'm getting goosebumps.
Speaker A:Because you can almost feel it yourself when you're watching it.
Speaker A:And then for it to finish in the exact same way with that same vision but actually being realized, like, it's.
Speaker A:It's so smart.
Speaker B:But then you get Enya in the background, which makes Steven better.
Speaker B:Yes, that's right.
Speaker A:Oh, God.
Speaker A:I will say too.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:So I have to.
Speaker A:I would.
Speaker A:If I.
Speaker A:If we're doing this movie and I don't talk about this scene, then I up.
Speaker A:And that is.
Speaker A:And it's funny because none of the move.
Speaker A:None of the scenes I'm really talking about are action scenes, though they're dope, as throughout this movie.
Speaker A:Like, they're.
Speaker A:We can talk about them.
Speaker A:But my favorite scene in this entire movie, which is hard to pick one because there's so many.
Speaker A:But Proximo and Maximus, when they first have their real conversation, when they're getting ready to go back to Rome, and he's like, what do you want?
Speaker A:He's like, huh?
Speaker A:What do you want, girl?
Speaker A:Boy, what do you want?
Speaker A:Any.
Speaker A:And that.
Speaker A:That back and forth.
Speaker A:In fact, like, I can almost quote all of it because I did it in college.
Speaker A:When I got back two years later, I did a speech class and then I did like a debate class.
Speaker A:I did some.
Speaker A:And then one of the things they did in the speech class was make us do, like, solo.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:I can't think of.
Speaker B:But anyway, soliloquy.
Speaker A:Soliloquy type thing.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You had to.
Speaker A:We had to open up and.
Speaker A:Monologue.
Speaker A:That's the word.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So we had to do this monologue of, like, our favorite movie quotes or scene.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And so this was what I ended.
Speaker A:Because that moment where he's like.
Speaker A:He goes.
Speaker A:He says, well, the emperor wants to do, you know, a week of games or whatever it is.
Speaker A:And he.
Speaker A:It kicks off.
Speaker A:He's like, oh, you should see the Coliseum.
Speaker A:Spaniard.
Speaker A:And then he takes this breath just like, ah, the noise as the.
Speaker A:You know, the silence before you strike and the noise afterwards, it's like it rises, rises up like.
Speaker A:Like a storm.
Speaker A:Like, you can just feel like I'm.
Speaker A:Again, I'm getting goosebumps.
Speaker A:You can feel.
Speaker A:Feel that this dude is just like, in It.
Speaker A:And he knows.
Speaker A:And then like that whole.
Speaker A:He's like, you were.
Speaker A:You were a gladiator.
Speaker A:Yes, I was.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:Like I said, I could probably sit here and finish it, but I won't.
Speaker A:But that to me, like, is just this scene of these two coming together to understand each other in that moment.
Speaker A:And this is why I love this scene so much.
Speaker A:Because in that moment you have a gladiator, former gladiator, who was so good and understood the rules, won his freedom, became a.
Speaker A:A slave owner of other gladiators, which, without ever saying it, is so key to this character's who he is.
Speaker A:Because on some level, you know by the end of this movie that Proxima was doing this to try to help one make money.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:He's a greedy and he's in it for himself.
Speaker A:But there's some level of him and you can't deny it if you go back and watch this character that he's in it to help these other guys get where he was.
Speaker A:They're going to be gladiators.
Speaker A:They might as well be gladiators for someone who understands it and wants them to be successful and be successful because it helps himself, right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then you have Maximus, who at this moment his only goal.
Speaker A:And he says it, I too want to stand before the emperor, as you did.
Speaker A:And he, Proxima doesn't understand at that moment, but his only focus is revenge.
Speaker A:He wants to kill communists.
Speaker A:He doesn't give a about anything else because the scene right before shows it.
Speaker A:I don't give a if I die.
Speaker A:And are you not entertained?
Speaker A:This is what you wanted, right?
Speaker A:The most epic line in this movie.
Speaker A:Are you not entertained?
Speaker A:And then at the end of this movie, you get this growth of these characters right again, going back to genius ass writing and director directing.
Speaker A:You have growth for all of these characters throughout.
Speaker A:Now you have Proximo, who gives his life for the sake of Rome, who, because he was inspired by this man who was a slave, who he owned as a slave.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's the first thing he's done in 40 years that wasn't for profit.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:And then you have Maximus, who set out for revenge and is now setting out to be the honorable man that he was at the beginning of the movie that just wanted to go home.
Speaker A:He wants to help who at the time you would you, it was implied, was his son.
Speaker A:But at the same time, like now they've confirmed it through a very not so great second version.
Speaker A:But anyway, the assumption was there that he might be his son.
Speaker A:And Even if he's not, he loves this woman.
Speaker A:He sees himself in this situation.
Speaker A:It's terrible.
Speaker A:Comedist is a dick.
Speaker A:I'm going to fulfill the wish of my dying friend that I didn't know was going to die the next day that he asked me to do.
Speaker A:Not become emperor, but replace this shitty system with what the people need.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Or try to.
Speaker A:So that whole growth, that scene to me is like when you think about the structure of a movie.
Speaker A:You have the, the opening act and then you have the middle act that gets everybody going and then you have the final act, right.
Speaker A:That finishes it out.
Speaker A:That, to me is the, the, the hinge point of this whole movie is that scene.
Speaker A:And it is done so well between, like, Oliver Reed and God rested.
Speaker A:He died.
Speaker A:Half this movie was.
Speaker A:Was done by someone else because he died in the middle of this movie or early on in this movie.
Speaker A:And so that scene, like, they superimposed his face on somebody for most of the movie when he's not talking.
Speaker A:But thank God he was there for that scene because that is arguably my top three scenes in movie history, I think, at least for me.
Speaker A:And it's just so good because it's so central to both sides of that conversation, start and finish, and how this movie plays out like that.
Speaker A:To me, it just.
Speaker A:Oh, it's so.
Speaker A:I'll give them something they've never seen before.
Speaker A:I'll win the crowd.
Speaker A:Like, are you kidding me?
Speaker A:It's so good.
Speaker A:Anyway, there you go.
Speaker A:There's rant number two.
Speaker B:Great.
Speaker B:I do want to talk about the fight scenes.
Speaker A:Yes, let's do it.
Speaker B:Because there's surprisingly not a lot of them.
Speaker B:Oh, but they're very like, you have the opening one, which again, very short, very compact, tells you all that you need to know.
Speaker B:But then aside from that, you get.
Speaker B:Was it like really only three gladiator matches or so that go through it?
Speaker B:Yeah, but they do such a good job of like, good, better, best.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:As you move through and they showcase, you know, the different skills of the different gladiators.
Speaker B:And, you know, once they fight as a unit and all these different things is, you know, Maximus kind of comes back to his roots and understand and actually starts to care more about them rather than his own personal vendetta.
Speaker B:And like, hey, gather up, here's how we're going to take this on.
Speaker B:And like, this versus the sequel was so much better than this.
Speaker B:They went off, off.
Speaker B:They lost the plot in the sequel that they did.
Speaker B:But this is still gritty down to earth.
Speaker B:It's a fight that you can actually see happening and see that.
Speaker B:Oh no, this is.
Speaker B:This is something that actually happened, you know.
Speaker B:And they.
Speaker B:They did a. I think they did a good job of calling out like, oh, this is Scipio Africanus's victory type of a thing.
Speaker B:And this is the victory over the.
Speaker B:The Carthaginians.
Speaker B:And so doing a good job of adding in that storytelling element of these reenactments.
Speaker B:Because really that's what they were.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Is reenactments of fights just heavily staged, heavily orchestrated and, you know, you might not survive.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:The goal is for you not to survive in a lot of cases.
Speaker B:But they did.
Speaker B:I think it did a really good job kind of showcasing that aspect of it in a very short time frame because I think 15 minutes of screen time was what the fights got maybe.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:But it's still considered like a gladiator fighting movie.
Speaker B:Everybody equates it to it.
Speaker B:The screen time.
Speaker B:So to have that be the lasting kind of impression is really.
Speaker B:Is really kind of cool.
Speaker B:And I think even the longest fight is the Maximus versus Commodus one.
Speaker B:And even that is more dialogue.
Speaker B:The actual fight, it's a.
Speaker B:It's a tip, you know, very synonymous with the Obi Wan Darth Vader fight in episode four.
Speaker B:It's more of a.
Speaker A:What's the.
Speaker B:What's the words?
Speaker B:More of a like conversation rather than an actual fight being had.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because the outcome is already been kind of decided and it's just drawing the line to get there.
Speaker B:And so it's really, really well done.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:By Ridley Scott and the actors as well.
Speaker B:Because you get a little bit of all sides.
Speaker B:And this is where Gmon Hansa gets to have his day.
Speaker B:So good.
Speaker B:Every movie he is in, I like better because he's in it.
Speaker A:Me too.
Speaker B:And not a lot of actors that can do that.
Speaker B:But he's one where it's just doesn't matter how good it is, if he's in it, it's better.
Speaker A:Yeah, I agree.
Speaker B:And he doesn't have to do much.
Speaker B:No, he gets like a combined five minutes in every single movie he's in.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker B:And he still improves it.
Speaker A:I always think about him in Constantine.
Speaker A:Yeah, I. I agree with you completely.
Speaker A:The fight scenes, because they're really only are like the opening scene that introduces.
Speaker A:And then the next gladiator battle is the one where he just slaughters everybody super quick.
Speaker A:And then the next one is the.
Speaker A:The military seeing him come back into his own.
Speaker A:And then there's the one where they're Trying to kill him with the big badass and the tigers.
Speaker A:That one was the most for show.
Speaker A:But it's still just to show that he's.
Speaker A:That he's won over the people in that moment.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Doing exactly what he told.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Proximal.
Speaker A:He was gonna do.
Speaker A:And then the final one, like you said, between him.
Speaker A:And again, here's the piece that I love about these fight scenes, and I go back to how genius Ridley Scott and the writers of this movie were, is that there's dialogue in a scene on before every one of them that makes the fight scene better.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So you have the opening scene where he gives his speech.
Speaker A:You know, if you find yourself walking alone in green fields, rejoice.
Speaker B:You're already dead.
Speaker A:You're already in Elysium.
Speaker A:And then you have the second one where he rat like he's.
Speaker A:He doesn't say a goddamn thing.
Speaker A:And all you have is span.
Speaker A:You're span.
Speaker A:Because we don't need dialogue for that one.
Speaker A:We want to see him just.
Speaker A:We're like, what are we gonna see?
Speaker A:He just cuts these down like they're butter, dude.
Speaker B:Well, there's also the added, like, disgust at who he's fighting with because you have the one guy, like, pisses himself, right?
Speaker B:And he just, like, looks at him like, come on, dude.
Speaker B:Like, he's just.
Speaker B:He's almost disgusted that he's there.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it relates to this and it just shows.
Speaker B:But it's funny where it's like, okay, you know, hey, gotta get home for lunch.
Speaker B:Gonna be a quick, quick fight, gotta get home for lunch type of it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like, you know, I'm better than this, I don't need to be here type of a deal.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Just like.
Speaker A:Like, straddles the river of peace and.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker A:Because there is the one where he's tied to Diamond Hansu's character, and then there's the one where it's just him against, like, seven guys.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's fair.
Speaker A:And neither one of those have dialogue.
Speaker A:They just have, this guy's a badass.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But it all leads up to the next little bit.
Speaker B:And so it's all.
Speaker A:And the military one where he's talking to him like they're his friends.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, here's what we're gonna do.
Speaker A:And he leads him.
Speaker A:And then the last.
Speaker B:Dude.
Speaker A:The conversation between him and Communist me, dude.
Speaker A:Well, and even before that, you have that brief discussion with Proximo where he's like, you're a good man, Proximo.
Speaker A:Before he goes up to Murder.
Speaker A:Like, take out the.
Speaker A:He's like, they're trying to kill you here, dude.
Speaker A:Like, he's like, it's all right.
Speaker A:We'll be fine.
Speaker A:And then the conversation with him and Commodus at the end.
Speaker A:God damn, dude.
Speaker A:Like that, too.
Speaker A:Or Maximus.
Speaker A:Maximus, they call for you.
Speaker A:And then.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like, and then there's the iconic, like, the general who became a slave.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Who became a gladiator who defied an emperor.
Speaker A:I know too many of the lines in this movie.
Speaker A:And all it did is, as I watched it, they were just re.
Speaker A:Embedded in my brain.
Speaker A:And now I've been walking around like, not.
Speaker B:My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius.
Speaker A:Oh, what a great.
Speaker A:My name is Gladiator Slave.
Speaker A:How dare you turn your back to me?
Speaker A:Oh, God, it's.
Speaker A:Now I gotta go watch it again.
Speaker A:It's so good.
Speaker A:It's so good.
Speaker A:But, yeah, it's just a.
Speaker A:It's just a master class to me of great writing, great directing, great acting.
Speaker A:Like, I don't have any flaws in this movie.
Speaker A:Like, even when we talked about Pirates of the Caribbean, which is a phenomenal movie, and we gave it a 5 across the board, I could talk about some flaws.
Speaker A:Like, I could find things.
Speaker A:We talked about Orlando Bloom.
Speaker A:And as small as those flaws are, this one.
Speaker A:I can't.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:If you were to ask me what.
Speaker A:What's one thing that you don't like about this movie, I would really struggle to find something, like, bad.
Speaker A:And I think the only argument I have is that it is two and a half hours long.
Speaker A:But to your point, I don't feel that ever.
Speaker A:I've never been.
Speaker A:Like, I'm only two hours in, or I'm only an hour in.
Speaker A:I'm like, oh, here comes the next part.
Speaker A:Here comes the next part.
Speaker A:So it's just.
Speaker A:It's so good.
Speaker A:So good.
Speaker A:Should we rate it?
Speaker B:Let's do it.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I'm gonna give this a 5.
Speaker A:As if anybody was questioning that.
Speaker A:If I could give it higher than a five, I would.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker A:This.
Speaker A:To me.
Speaker B:It's your podcast.
Speaker B:Do it.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:Giving it a six.
Speaker A:God damn it.
Speaker A:No, I. I am.
Speaker A:I give this a 5.
Speaker A:And I think to.
Speaker A:To give the elevation that I.
Speaker A:That I want to give it.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:Someone asks me my top five greatest movies ever made, this one's in that conversation for me.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:It will always be whether it lands on the.
Speaker A:In the top five during that day is.
Speaker A:Is anybody's guess, because my top five changes on a regular basis.
Speaker A:But this one is consistently part of the conversation, no matter how long.
Speaker A:But I go between someone asking me that question, which I inevitably get asked anytime I talk about the fact that we do a movie podcast, which favorite movie of all time, I'm like, fuck off.
Speaker A:I can't do favorite movie of all time.
Speaker A:I just can't.
Speaker A:But I could do, like, top five.
Speaker A:I could do top ten.
Speaker B:Got to separate it.
Speaker B:So this is what I do.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Tip for anybody is I have favorite and I have best made.
Speaker B:So I separate it out.
Speaker B:My favorite movie is one, but this is the movie I think is the best it's ever made.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so that way it's like, yeah.
Speaker B:Because I know my favorite movie is not a good movie.
Speaker B:And if people are like, oh, what's your favorite movie?
Speaker B:Then they automatically judge you.
Speaker B:I'm like, okay, well, this is my favorite, but this is the one that I think is the best ever made.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's fair.
Speaker A:That's a good call out.
Speaker A:I'm gonna use that.
Speaker B:Dude changed my life.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker A:But yeah, like, I. I can't.
Speaker A:I have to put this in a.
Speaker A:In a.
Speaker A:In a conversation about some of the best movies ever made because I. I can think of no flaws besides the length of it, which makes sense because everything is purposeful.
Speaker A:There's a reason for everything that happens.
Speaker A:And we didn't talk about it like I said we would, but Hans Zimmer is a goddamn musical genius.
Speaker A:He's up there for me with John Williams.
Speaker A:He elevated Klaus Bedott, who became again another one that we talked about last week that when he's on.
Speaker A:And you can hear similarities between Pirates of the Caribbean and the music for this one, so you can tell that they work together a lot.
Speaker A:But this move, this music brings you down when you need to be down, and it lifts you up and then it gives you 10.
Speaker A:I'm getting goosebumps again.
Speaker A:This three times during.
Speaker A:I've never had it three times in a podcast that I'm getting goosebumps like this.
Speaker A:But the music's outrageous and very meaningful and purposeful.
Speaker A:So I just.
Speaker A:Great movie.
Speaker A:Please let me watch this over and over and over again and I'll do it.
Speaker A:It's awesome.
Speaker A:Five, arguably a perfect movie to me.
Speaker A:We throw that term around willy nilly a lot, but this one is.
Speaker A:Yeah, I love it.
Speaker A:So your turn.
Speaker B:Excellent.
Speaker B:I'm also going to be a five.
Speaker B:Not.
Speaker B:Not as five as you, but it's a five.
Speaker B:There's only one thing or one like, note that I could put in there for this.
Speaker B:And it.
Speaker B:It's surprising.
Speaker B:Even though I love it, it's the ending.
Speaker B:And it's because you have this great send off.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:With Russell Crowe, but you have to wrap it up and that's.
Speaker B:That causes a problem.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Because you now take your almost perfect ending and you have to do more.
Speaker B:And so then you get the actual ending a couple minutes later, which is one of my favorite scenes, which is know G. Monsie's bearing.
Speaker A:Bearing the toys.
Speaker B:You know, not yet.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Goes back in the not yet, not yet type of thing.
Speaker B:I'll see you again.
Speaker B:But not yet.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So it's.
Speaker B:It's hard because it's like you have two almost perfect endings.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:That come right after the other.
Speaker B:And it just is almost like.
Speaker B:And I. I pretty sure this went through their head.
Speaker B:Like, how can we make this one into one?
Speaker B:Or like, how can we work this in together?
Speaker B:And it just didn't work work.
Speaker B:Which is unfortunate because it's like, there's one that's really, really perfect, but you can't end there.
Speaker B:You have to go to somewhere else.
Speaker B:And so that would be the only thing where it's like, I wish you could have, but I know it'd be impossible.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:This is one where it's not like anytime, all the time.
Speaker B:I'll sit down and watch, but I'm never gonna.
Speaker B:But if someone's like, hey, we're watching Gladiator, I'm like, cool.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And then there's definite moments where I'm picking out and I'm paying more attention than other moments.
Speaker A:But yeah, it's.
Speaker B:It's not something that I'm ever really like, oh, you know, this is my favorite movie or one of my favorite movies.
Speaker B:I'm gonna sit down and watch it, but I'm never gonna really say no to it.
Speaker B:If that makes any sense.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:If someone were to suggest it.
Speaker B:And so it's just.
Speaker B:It's just done well.
Speaker B:Music is great, like you mentioned, and such a great kind of.
Speaker B:It's something that shouldn't really work.
Speaker B:When you get the vocals of Anya going in, you're like, it should never work.
Speaker B:But it does.
Speaker B:And it works very well.
Speaker B:And then you combine that with Hans Zimmer and just elevates every scene.
Speaker B:And so it's one that is definitely gonna be a five for me.
Speaker B:And I will watch it again.
Speaker B:Don't know when, but it'll.
Speaker B:It'll happen.
Speaker A:Yeah, I might tonight.
Speaker A:I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker A:Speaking of Hans Zimmer and this the Singing part.
Speaker A:I laughed because.
Speaker A:Do you know what movie he recently did?
Speaker A:Movies he did recently has done the music for.
Speaker B:I remember reading it somewhere, but no.
Speaker A:Dune.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:So the singing part, like, when you think about that, I'm like, as soon as I saw the trailer for Dune, I'm like, oh, home Zimmer.
Speaker A:There he is.
Speaker A:He went back to his gladiator roots right there.
Speaker A:Yeah, I love it.
Speaker A:And here's the funny part.
Speaker A:So before we wrap up, completely great movie.
Speaker A:So glad we got to do it.
Speaker A:I could Talk for another 45 minutes about completely different topics because we didn't even talk about Connie Nielsen and.
Speaker A:And Joaquin Phoenix and their scenes together.
Speaker A:Jesus Christ.
Speaker A:That scene where he's like, got her son and he's like telling her what about.
Speaker A:He's telling the story about the other emperor and the busy little bees and I'm.
Speaker A:And then when he's like threatening her ass and he's like, you will.
Speaker A:And I'm just like, this guy's cracked.
Speaker A:So I didn't want to leave without talking about those two as well because this movie's just packed with performances and anyway, so good.
Speaker A:So, Alec, tell everybody where they can find us when we're not fighting in the coliseum, my friend.
Speaker B:Happy to.
Speaker B:Best place is on YouTube, where this month especially you can see our smiling faces.
Speaker B:We had a great lineup of movies.
Speaker B:Aside from that, the best place to get involved is on Patreon at what's our virtual reviews, where it is absolutely free to get involved in the content creation of the podcast.
Speaker B:We do votes every month for topics and or movies to go in.
Speaker B:Topics that you guys can get on.
Speaker B:Vote for your favorites.
Speaker B:You know, vote for your least favorites.
Speaker B:Because these votes have consequences for us in the way of lists of movies that we don't want to watch getting put up for purchase on Patreon.
Speaker B:So to vote absolutely free, go check it out.
Speaker B:What's our verdict?
Speaker B:Reviews.
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Speaker B:Everything from outtakes and bloopers all the way up to full length episodes of movies that nobody should watch.
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Speaker B:Special thanks to our current patrons, Rich and CB for everything that you guys do with that.
Speaker B:Though before you guys sign off w gg go get your 10 off with the code r verdict.
Speaker B:All one word.
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Speaker B:And with that, I'll kick it to the wazir of Wap.
Speaker B:Not that Wap the maharaja of MASH A jj.
Speaker A:Still my favorite one.
Speaker A:There it is.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:Alec, go check out all the things.
Speaker A:Thanks for listening, as always.
Speaker A:We appreciate you tuning in.
Speaker A:We'll catch you on the next one.
Speaker B:Hasta la vista, baby.
Speaker A:Cinematic.
