Shoot The Flick
Gladiator (2000)
(upbeat music) - Hey there, welcome to Shoot the Flick. I'm Frankie Sparks. - And I'm Scott Eisenberg. - And we are a married couple who like to shoot the shit about movies. - That we do, that we do. - And we're back. Spooky season is over, but don't worry kids, we still got some good movies on the horizon to discuss. For example, Scotty, what movie did we watch today? - Well, we watched the movie that's getting a sequel. - Yes. - That's coming out. - Very soon. - Very, very, very soon. And now we are covering Gladiator. - Released in 2000. - Yes, Russell Crowe's Epic. - Indeed, Ridley Scott's Epic. - That's also true. - Yeah, so I've never seen this. And I wanted to see it simply because the sequel's coming out and I felt ill-prepared. - Indeed, Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington. - Pedro Pascal. - It's all there, everybody's there, except Russell Crowe. - No, and Joaquin. - And Joaquin, yes. - This is quite the Epic. This is also the fourth best picture winner that we have covered on Shoot the Flick. - It is. - The other three have been, let's see, Slum Dog Millionaire, the original Rocky film, and Scott's favorite of all time, Titanic. - Oh yeah. - Oh, just Scottie, what are Scottie's top 10 movies of all time? - Yep, I love the Titanic. I love the way that ship hits that iceberg. I love that Celine Dion. - I love those fiddle players playing when the ship is sinking. - Oh no. So, Scottie, what is your experience with Gladiator? Why did you want to show this film? - So, I've known about Gladiator and watched Gladiator probably since it came out. I don't know if I saw them theaters. I don't think I did, but it used to run quite frequently on television. I think it used to be like a TNT staple. - Yeah, that sounds, it seems appropriate for that, yeah. - It's just one of those movies that you've kind of grown accustomed to in society. And it really, I think, highlights Russell Crowe as a mainstream star. - Yeah, I mean, this role got him an Oscar for lead actor, but it's also in between two Oscar nominated roles for him. This made a big splash at the Oscars, as well. I don't know if the sequel is expected to be as big of a splash, but I know they're already talking about making Gladiator 3. - I'm hearing good things. - I'm hearing good things as well. I'm hearing it's not as good as the original, but it's good. - Of course, it's not gonna be as good as the original though, like. - Right, well, I mean, yeah. I mean, this is a pretty epic film, both in length and in quality. - Yeah, but I never feel like this movie is too long. - No, it's paced pretty well. Like, you know, it's, well, I think over two and a half hours and it doesn't feel like that, which is good, definitely. The film was directed by Ridley Scott, who we've talked about before. We talked about "Thelma and Louise" on the show, which also got him an Oscar nomination. He did "Black Hawk Down" the year after. Alien, Blade Runner, the iconic house of Gucci. You know, just. - You did? - You started off so great. And then just torpedoed us. - But this was definitely a shining beacon in his filmography. - Yeah, it is. And this is also a "Sword and Sandals" movie. - Which I would imagine kicked off a slew of "Sand and Sandals" movies. - "Sword and Sandals" too. - What I say, "Sand and Sandals." (laughing) Which I would imagine, okay, hold on, I'm gonna start rolling. - Focus, get it together. - Which I would imagine kicked off a slew of "Sword and Sandals" knockoff, trying to emulate gladiator success movies in the future. - Oh, I am sure there are tons of them. This kind of was like a little bit of, I guess, a revival period of some of these kind of movies. 'Cause I would say like this, the "Mummy" and the "Mummy" sequel, the "Mummy Returns" are kind of, well, those are a little more modern or similar feeling. - Mm-hmm, yeah, this is like an Oscar-y version of something like that. I will say like, it makes sense that this movie was such a hit at the Oscars and with audiences because it is a general audience-pleasing Oscar movie. Like, it can appeal to both the hoity-toity Oscar crowd and as well as general audiences, I feel like. - Yeah, you got all your Oscar stuff in there, but in all sense, it's a revenge story. - Sure. - Which is- - Yeah, it's pretty satisfying in that way. - Which is an easy concept to get behind. - Sure, I mean, before seeing this now for "Shoot the Flick," I'd really only known the film as like, "Oh, Russell Crowe is the gladiator." And he screams, "Are you entertained? Are you not entertained?" - He does scream that. - That's what I know it from. So because it was such an Oscar darling, I don't know what I was necessarily expecting. - Well, Frankie even came to me at the beginning and goes, "So when does he scream, are you entertained?" - Yeah, I was like, "When are we gonna get to that?" - I'm like, "That's like halfway through." I'm like, "We got a little while." But yeah, even though this movie has wakim in it and some other people in this movie like Jiman Hanzu, and some other recognizable faces and names. - Yes, indeed. So I'm very iconic older actors in this movie, which we'll talk about. - This is the "Russell Crowe" show. - Oh, for sure, yeah. He's the people's champ. - He really is. Russell Crowe's been around for ages before and after this. - Sure, I mean, we talked about him also on the show before when we did "The Nice Guys" and even back in the dark ages of "Street the Flick" when we talked about "Lame Is." - Yeah, exactly. - Which reminds you one of the writers of this movie also wrote the script for 2012's "Lame Is," which Scotty's was thrilled about. He loves "Lame Is So Much." Almost as much as he loves Titanic. - Almost. But I don't think he's had a role of this significant since then. - Well, yeah, because I feel like I don't know a lot about "Russell Crowe's" filmography, like, just in general. But I know he's got like a reputation of being kind of like an asshole, or at least at one time he was known as kind of an asshole. - I think he had a reputation of being a little difficult to work with for a while. - Yeah. - I think he's come around since then. - Yeah, and his older age, which is kind of funny because I think I read something that, like, on the set of Gladiator, "Russell Crowe" and "Walking," but it heads because "Russell Crowe" didn't like, he thought that "Walking" was unprofessional and difficult to work with. Which "Walking" also has that reputation. However, I think "Russell Crowe" has sort of softened with that reputation a little bit over the years. "Walking" really hasn't. "Walking" still has this reputation of being like this hoity-toity, like, arrogant actor guy. You know what I mean? - Yeah, of course. Well, it's even funnier because "South Park" had a whole episode making fun of "Russell Crowe" fighting around the world. ♪ Born in New Zealand in '64 ♪ ♪ A hot-headed actor named Russell Crowe ♪ ♪ He loves to act, but he loves one thing more ♪ ♪ Fight around the world ♪ - And I think they asked him about it like a year later and he goes, "That was really funny." But I almost wanna say he kind of spoofed this character when he did the latest four movie when he was Zeus. - Oh, Thor, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Well, one bet's funny because at one point in the movie when Maximus is revealed, you know, without giving too much of the plot away, when he has his grand reveal in the movie, before that Joaquin goes up to him and he's like, "Oh, yeah, they're saying you're like Hercules or something." And in my head, I was like, "Heh heh, he plays Zeus later." Or they, I think they also compare him to like "The God of Thunder." And I'm like, "Oh, oh!" - It's nice to see that like Russell Crowe, who still works through this day, looks like he's having a good time. I know he did that horror movie a couple of years ago where he was the truck driver chasing down there. - Oh, yeah, we was like a road rage guy. - Yeah. - Yeah, I think he sort of embraced his reputation or what it once was and he has sort of softened. He's done movies like Thor, "Love and Thunder" and he's done even the nice guys. Like he's kind of that like grizzled older guy reputation that's like been through some shit but like just has like a better attitude. Who knows if that's legitimate to who he really is? But it does come off that way. Like it's, for some reason, if you're comparing Russell Crowe's trajectory as far as his reputation to Joaquin's, there's a definite fork in the road where Russell Crowe goes off and kind of gains more public favor. - Oh yeah. - Over the years. - Of our two main stars in this. Yeah, I would say Russell Crowe might not be as big as Joaquin is now as an actor. - Sure. - But I would say Russell Crowe's probably more well-liked as an actor. - Yeah, I would say that's probably true. Like Joaquin's probably making more money as an actor right now in general. But Russell Crowe's probably got more public favor in general. - So we did mention that really Scott was the director. We also of course have Hans Zimmer composing with the help of Lisa Girard who provided the vocals for some of the score and also helped Hans compose. It was funny 'cause at points in the movie, Scott stopped and was like, is that the pirate scene? - No, it's not all of it, just certain-- - Just certain points, yeah. - Where you sit there and go, that definitely sounds like Pirates of the Caribbean curse of the Black Pearl. As a guy who played that score a lot in orchestra, I remember that score quite well. - It was nominated for 12 Oscars, one five of them, it won four best picture of course, lead actor for Russell Crowe, as well as costumes, sound, and VFX. The movie was also nominated for editing which we'll talk about the editing. There are some things that are really expert about it because like we said, it's over two and a half hours but it doesn't feel like that at all and that's definitely a testament to the editing. But it was also nominated for director, for Ridley Scott, as well as supporting actor for Joaquin Phoenix. All three of those lost to a movie called Traffic, which I've never seen. - I think I have a long time ago, but I don't remember. - It was a Steven Soderberg movie, which I feel like Soderberg is hit or miss for me. But I've never seen that movie, so I can't really comment. But it was also nominated for original screenplay which lost to Almost Famous. - Yeah. - Again, haven't seen that. Sorry to report. - On the worst. - I know. And it was nominated for score, cinematography, and art direction and lost all three of those to Crashing Tiger Hidden Dragon. - Yeah. - So it seems like the-- - Wow, I forgot that movie came out this year. - Yeah, it seems like the year 2000 was a very stacked year for Oscars, which is pretty crazy. - It's crazy 'cause I haven't thought about Crashing Tiger Hidden Dragon in years. - I have also never seen that either. I'm bad with this year, I guess. - But I remember that being a huge hit. - But Gladiator was not only a Oscar darling, it was a critical and commercial success. With a budget of $103 million, it made a whopping 465 and a half million with a letterbox score of 4.1 out of 5 stars. Second highest grossing film of the year 2000, behind-- - You wanna guess? - Crashing Tiger? - Nah, this is just-- - Mission Impossible 2.5. - Oh, that's right. - Which, okay. When we did the original Mission Impossible, please go back and listen to that episode if you wish because it was really fun to watch that as well. But I went on a tear and watched a bunch of Mission Impossible and leads back to back after watch the first one for Shoot the Flick. - Mission Impossible 2 is a fucking gem. It's so bad, but so good. Like, oh, oh my God, I wanna cover that one day on here 'cause it's just so bad. - Mission Impossible 2 was interesting. - It's so bad. - I think for at least one of the better ones, I think it was free. - Yeah, Mission Impossible 3 was good, but oh my God. MI2 is so good 'cause it's so, it's so 2000. - It's so 2000. - Yeah. - And it's so bad. What's so good? It's like hilariously bad. - Well, we gotta do that one then. - We also talk about it. The year 2000 falls in my little range of '98 to 2002. - Oh, then it's like, yes. - We have no idea what movie we are. - Yeah, we don't know what decade we're in. When we're in the transition years between decades, it's, yeah, we sort of have trouble determining where we are in time. - And with the birth of CGI becoming as prevalent as it is. - Oh my God. - 2000 is a weird year, man. - Yeah, man, for sure. But gladiator overall is the number 35 film on IMDB. It's the first film on the list from the year 2000, and it is right between Psycho of all things and the Lion King. - Yeah. - It's very iconic film. I feel like that fits very well. I really, I thought I knew I would like the movie, but I'm not a big period piece person. I'm certainly not a big fighting movie person. Like, this is not something that you would assume would fall into my particular wheelhouse. However, I feel like there is a universal appeal to this story. - Well, yes, it is a period piece. And my yes, it is some other war movie. And my yes, it's a revenge story. And my yes, it is a fighting movie. It's not one of those things by itself. It's all of those kind of melded together into a good story, a simple story. - Indeed. - But a good story. That part scares me with gladiator too, 'cause I'm like, can we still be this simple? - Well, I just read like the little blurb on Letterbox about it. And it basically just says like, some guy takes over Rome and Lucius, who's the little boy Lucilla son in this movie, is all grown up. And he becomes a slave, a gladiator, and has to fight and try to regain Rome as it once was. So it seems like it's gonna be a similar story. And yeah, that, again, with the cast, I feel like we're gonna have a good time. - We should, hopefully. - What scares me is modern Ridley Scott. - Yeah, that's who. - Modern Ridley Scott running around making movies is not the guy he once was, I hate to say. - Well, that's cool. What it is, most directors as they age either start to rest in their laurels, or they just kind of falter. Even if you look at the greats of the greats, Spielberg has had quite a bunch of stinkers recently. Fableman's was kind of terrible, okay at best. Scorsese is just recycling his old stuff. Let's not talk about what's the other fucking movie you brought me to this year. Godfather director. - Oh, Megalopolis. - Let's talk about Megalopolis. - No, let's talk about Megalopolis, please. I'm trying to convince Scott, well, I haven't actually tried yet, but I haven't written down as a possibility for our first episode of season six. - Oh, God. - Hashtag Megalopolis season six. That's a long hashtag, but like let's get it going. (laughing) But anyway, yeah, so I'm just quickly looking up Ridley Scott's filmography as a director. So after Gladiator, there's still some decent movies, Match Stick Men, American Gangster. I heard is good, Black Hawk Down, like we said earlier. The Martian I haven't seen, but I know it's supposed to be good 'cause that's on your list for me, I think. - Yeah, I enjoyed the Martian. - And then after that, we just go into like mid to terrible. Like there's alien covenant and like all the money in the world, House of Good, she, Napoleon. So we're sort of eh, to bad. And now we need Gladiator too, which I feel like if anything is gonna be more of a financial success than probably most of his movies in the past few years. - Yeah, probably. - And if they're already talking about Gladiator 3, well. - Yeah, well, let's see. So are you ready to get into the nitty gritty of Gladiator? - Yeah, I'm actually really excited to talk about this. - So we begin in the way past. - In the way, way past. - We get a little bit of the backstory of what's kind of going on in society at this time. - Oh yes, we had a crawl for the first time and however long we got to do a crawl, like Star Wars time. - There's more title cards than crawl, but you know. - Well yes, but Frankie of course read it like it was a crawl. Like in the year of Our Lord, something something AD. - Basically it tells us the Roman Empire is very, very large, but is basically almost under complete control, except for a few remaining Germanic factions. So we cut to the last battle in Germania, which is going to be Germany. - So in this whole opening part, where we're just in the war and in the battle, I was a little worried 'cause I'm like, is this what the movie's gonna be? I don't know if I'm gonna do okay (laughs) because again, I'm not, this is not my wheelhouse and I'm like, but Russell Crowe is looking very 2000s, Russell Crowe, I think probably one of the other reasons why he's so appealing is because even at this time, he's very much like, he's an attractive guy, but he's not like chiseled supermodel handsome guy. Like he's, I don't know if the thing, the word is more attainable handsome, but he's incredibly handsome. - He's ruggedly handsome. - Yes, ruggedly handsome, that's perfect. So I enjoyed that. Also, there was one point in this whole part where I just saw this old white guy with white flowing locks, and I knew because I am the research, the one woman research team here at Shoot the Flick, I knew Richard Harris was gonna be in this movie, and I only know Richard Harris as Dumbledore for the first two Harry Potter movies, which come like literally back to back right after Gladiator. So I was like, okay, Dumbledore is gonna be in this movie, it's gonna be easy to recognize him, but then you realize all this movie is old white guys and one Connie Nielsen. So you're like, oh shit, I don't know. But I saw this old white guy with white flowing locks, and I'm like, is that Dumbledore? Is that Dumbledore? And then a few scenes later when he starts talking, I'm like, oh, yeah, that's Dumbledore. (laughs) - Is that his mark is so really us in this movie. - Caesar. - Caesar. - Which again, I'm being educated. I didn't know Caesar wasn't his actual name, and just like a title, I wasn't aware. - Well, Caesar was Julia's Caesar's name. - Right. - And I think later on after years and years, eventually the later Rome became the Caesar. - Right, okay, that makes sense. - That's sorry in Russia. - Right, got it, yeah. But yeah, Richard Harris is in this movie, and everything that happens in this movie, by the way, is his fault, everything, his fault. But we'll get there when we get there, 'cause I want Scott to set the scene properly. But just so you know, it's all Dumbledore's fault. Just like Harry Potter, it's all Dumbledore's fault. - Pretty much, yeah. So the battle basically is to set the stage of how good a fighter our lead character, Maximus is. He helps fight off this German Empire. He's out on the front lines. His people are behind him, almost 100%, almost. - Almost. - Get there too, fucker. - But him and his people fight back to Germans, win the war, everybody seems excited, and they're happy, and they're like, yes, the war is over. The Roman Empire is complete, and who is riding in after the battle, but are other two main characters, Lucilla and Commodus. - Okay, so Lucilla is played by Connie Nielsen. She's gonna also be in the sequel, because the sequel revolves around Lucilla's son, who we'll introduce in a little bit. But I thought that that was also kind of weird that she's gonna be in the sequel, 'cause at this time, wasn't like the life expectancy, like 40 years old or something. Like, and she's got like, Lucius, who's the son, is like a grown man, and Lucilla's still around. But whatever, it's fine art. But the only other thing I know Connie Nielsen from is she played the Queen of Thermascira in the DCEU, but yeah, she did good in this. I expected one thing from her character and slowly started to realize that it wasn't that, and it was nice. I thought she was just gonna be like a power hungry, badass bitch who would fuck, suck whatever anybody for a little bit of power. That's more Joaquin, but we'll get there. But yeah, it made me happy to know she was a well-rounded character who also is really strategic and would be an amazing leader, but also has a heart. - Well yes, when Marcus really is first talks to Lucilla, he does mention how great a Caesar she would've been if she was born a man. - Love that. And she is our only really female character, so we really, we gotta put our feminine, feminist juice behind her. It's like, please, please be a good character. And she is, so it made me happy. - But common this is not any of those things. He is our Joaquin Phoenix character. This is also a really good time for him in his career. Two years after this, he did "Signs." After that, he did "Walk the Line," which is a great movie as well. Obviously we talked about "Joker" back in October when the sequel was coming out. Like one funny kind of fact I have about this is, he was not only nominated for an Oscar for "Supporting Actor," but he was nominated for an MTV movie award for "Best Villain." And he lost to Jim Carrey's "The Grinch," which made me laugh. - Yeah, that's pretty funny. - Because it's like, I mean, obviously it's the MTV movie awards. Like there's not really any prestige in that. But just the idea that Jim Carrey beat out Joaquin Phoenix for an award makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. - Oh God. - Wait, can I just mention one thing for you continue? So they're riding up in their carriage or whatever, right? And I again knew nothing about this movie. So Joaquin and Lucilla, our brother and sister, I did not know this. They're in the carriage and he's talking to her and saying like, oh, do you really think father is dying? He wouldn't summon us unless he was really dying. Oh, what will our future be? Well, I will be the leader of Rome and the way he's leaning over Lucilla as he's talking to her about this and like holding your hand and like looking at her, like there's like a sultry look in his eye and I'm like, oh, are they like married? And I, yeah, I very quickly found out, no. No, that's wrong. But I mentioned my thought, my initial thought to Scott at some point, I'm like, oh, I thought that they were together. And Scott's like, well, and I'm like, no, no, no. Don't say that. Don't say that. How dare you? No, no, no, no, no, no, I mean, no. So there's a clear divisiveness amongst our major parties, Maximus, who of course is the leader of the armies of Rome. We have Marcus Aurelius who's on his deathbed, basically. Commodus, who is arrogant, immoral, has his own father, says spoiled. Mm-hmm. And we kind of have the Senate who is also supposed to be four to people. Mm-hmm. But like, it's questionable for a while, like what their real intentions are. Just like Congress, oh, it's all right. Oh, we're getting political. We don't wanna get political. No, we do not wanna get political. That was a joke, we don't, that's a little move on. Oh, yes, in reality, we love Congress and we love-- Everything. Everything about our country. My country did something. Sweet land of liberty. Take the O out, my country did something. Whoa, God. Take the O out of country anyway. So we get the sense that everybody's got a past here. Maximus knew this family for years. He could walk with them. There's definitely history there. You can tell immediately that Lucilla has a flickering torch for Maximus. It is mentioned that her husband has previously passed away and Lucilla and Maximus both have sons the same age. Maximus has a wife and son back home and he's waiting for this shit to be over so he can go home and be with his wife and kid. There is talk that Aurelius, aka Caesar, is dying and that he is going to, just because the hierarchy being what it is, it's customary to pass it on to the sun. So Thomas is like, I'm gonna be the emperor of Rome. Hooray, hurrah. But in reality, Caesar's intention is to pass his power on to Maximus and to essentially give power back to the people. Now, I take issue with this extremely because if you wanted to give power back to the people, you, for all of this time, seemingly a long period of time, have been the ruler and you could have done that at any time. Now that you are nearing the end of your life, you're starting to feel a little guilty, starting to think, oh, maybe I'm gonna go to the bad place, gotta try and make things right. So he's like, I'm going to give power to Maximus, who is not of royal blood, quote unquote, you know. But I'm going to, he literally says to Maximus, oh, comedist, my immoral, arrogant, impulsive, tyrannical, immature son is going to accept this and be fine with it. Don't worry, Max, everything's gonna be fine. And then, you know, I'm just gonna die and nothing bad is gonna happen. And that is an incredibly stupid thing to do. And then obviously the movie happens as it happens. But yeah, it's all his fucking fault because then of course he does go to comedist too and tells him how his plans and things go awry shockingly. So it's just, what did you think was gonna happen? So, Aurelius tells Maximus this and he's like, take the night, think it over, man. And then he goes to comedist and tells him, you're not getting the throne, I'm giving it to Maximus. And while Keene's like, oh, but daddy, I love you so much. And just give me a hug, daddy. Please, this guy's got daddy issues up the wazoo. Oh, of course he does. Daddy, please, I just want you to hug me. And then he hugs him to death. (laughing) He literally hugs him to death. And then as he's literally dying, 'cause I saw it coming a mile off, as he's being crushed, fucking Dumbledore, I'm like, oh, look, if it isn't the consequences of my own actions, the chicken's coming home to roost. Kaka, you're dead. - Yes, indeed. - You only have yourself to blame. - But in all honesty, it is an interesting idea of being afraid of what will the world think of me after I am gone, especially for these people who are as powerful as Marcus Aurelius has become. If you look at some people in history like Attila the Hun, a Vlad the Impaler, like these guys who are known for their violence, their aggression on the battlefield and things like that, they're not talked about in good standing as human beings. - Yeah, they're not talked about as, you know, fair and just and honorable men, but I mean, it seems like too little too late. - Cute, Cute Jojo. (upbeat music) - It seems too little too late for Marcus Aurelius. - It probably is, and it probably would be, but as we also say, history is written by the winners. So if he succeeded at this task, maybe he would have some more favorable-- - Sure, sure. - But we quickly cut to Marcus Aurelius's deathbed. Communist goes to Maximus goes, hey. - I'm your daddy now. - Basically. - I am the captain now, and Max walks out of the room. - Because he knows the truth. - He turns his back on Caesar and, oh, the new Caesar, and then his buddy fucking turns on him and gets him arrested, and he's gonna be executed. - Indeed. - And that doesn't work out too well. - No, it does not. Maximus is very clever. And when you've been on the battlefield that long, yeah, you know things like, hey, if it's really cold outside, your sword may not come out of the sheaf. - Dude, okay, fuck off. That was, okay, so what happens is they go to execute him and Max fights off his would-be executioners. One guy comes up and his fucking sword gets stuck in the thing and he literally, Max says the line and sometimes in the frost, the sword sticks. Literally, that's how it's said. I wish that I was kidding, like in that delivery, but that's how it said. And it just screamed to me to be like a production note after the fact almost. Like if I didn't see his mouth moving, I would think it was ADR. Because it just seemed like, oh, well, why did the sword, it seemed like some production person was sitting there and being like, oh, well, why did the sword get stuck? It doesn't make sense. We have to have an explainer line in there. And they just threw that in, it sounded so stupid. There was like a couple choices in this movie overall that took you out of it. That was one of them. Another one, there's this strange editing choice that's done a few times. I'm pretty sure you would attribute it to editing where they, just for like a few seconds, have this increased shutter speed in slow motion, but just for like a couple seconds. And it comes at random times. Clearly they're trying to do it for dramatic effect, but at times they use it when there's really no dramatic effect needed. - Yeah. - And it just kind of takes you out of it for a second. It felt like, oh, this is a thing we can do. It's very stylistic. Oh, I'm really Scott, I'm so stylish. I think that's what it felt like. - It is. - But yeah, other than that, I think we were okay as far as the editing, like we were saying. 'Cause the pace goes really fast. I mean, before you know it, Russell Crowe is clip clapping across countries to get home to his wife and kid. And it's a nightmare what he comes upon. - Yeah, so he rides from Germany all the way back to his home in Italy. To find that his wife and his son have been crucified and burnt. - It's a pretty fucking gruesome. Russell Crowe, are you filming my laughing? - He definitely emoted, okay. He emoted with the assistance of a river of snot. Like if people have watched The Walking Dead and they know that scene with Rick Grimes and the bubble of snot in his nose, it's like Rick Grimes was channeling Russell Crowe in the scene. It was just everywhere and it was stringy. And I really, I could not. - I literally have in my notes because of Frankie's reaction, I literally wrote the snot. - It was, I just couldn't stop saying it. I was like, the snot, stop it, it was so gross. And then like later on too, there's like a gross out. Like the gross out stuff I wasn't expecting. There was a moment, 'cause he takes his wife and child down from where they're hanging and buries them. And he like passes out and he gets picked up by these slave traders. And they keep zooming in on the cut on his arm and there are maggots in it, maggots in the, like, why? - Yep. - I was a maggots, no, I don't want it. - Yeah. But we quickly meet Jiman Hansu. - Yay, Jiman Hansu's in this movie. I thought he was also in the sequel, but I don't think he is, which is really upsetting. He's still very much action guy. He's been in plenty of DC and MCU films. Most recently he was in the Quiet Place sequel, I think. Like he's cool. - Still steadily working. - Yeah. - He fixes up, Maximus's wound, gross. At one point I thought he ate a maggot out of him, but he didn't. I was like, "I wanna kill myself, please stop it." - But we quickly meet Proximo. - Ooh, this is an interesting one. So Proximo is played by Oliver Reed, who is a pretty prolific actor. He's probably most known as Sykes in the movie Oliver, which also won Best Picture back of the day. He was also one of the musketeers back in the '70s when they made the Three Musketeers movie. His inclusion in this movie is very interesting. He does a really good job. I really enjoyed him. I was surprised he was nominated for supporting actor, especially considering that he actually passed away before this movie came out, actually while they were still filming. Like three weeks before shooting ended, he passed away. And what's interesting about it is that Ridley Scott, because there was a clause in the film's insurance contract that allowed, I guess maybe because of Oliver Reed's age, I don't really know, but it would have allowed Ridley Scott to replace Oliver Reed and reshoot his scenes if he wanted to, but Ridley chose not to do that because he just really loved Oliver Reed in the movie. And instead he chose to do a body double and you CGI to finish whatever he didn't film yet in the movie. But I really enjoyed his performance in this and I feel like it's a great movie to go out on. It is. He has some really meaty stuff in here as far as like performance and speech stuff. And he also has a great ending in the movie, like really valiant fucking cool ending. So Proximo's story is he's an ex-gladiator who was given his freedom by Marcus Aurelius years and years and years ago. But because all he knows is being a gladiator, he has basically kept it going and he buys slaves to become gladiators, even though the Colosseum has been closed for numbers of years. So he buys German Hansu and Maximus. - Who they refer to as the Spaniard 'cause they don't know who he is. I really love not only Maximus' dynamics with German Hansu because at one point in their first fight together, they're chained together and they have to work together 'cause I don't think Max really gives a shit in the beginning 'cause he's like fuck it. I don't have anything to live for anymore. My wife and my kid are dead, fuck it, I don't care. But he just sort of naturally takes over and helps German Hansu and they fight and survive together and they perform a real friendship. And then also his dynamic with Proxima I think is really interesting 'cause he, along with the audience, start off thinking like he's just some fucking eccentric, weirdo, gruff, like, scraggly old man who likes to watch people fight, but then you realize his backstory and by the end of the movie sort of regains something that he maybe had lost within himself, his honor. It's just a really fun dynamic between all these different characters. Well, Russell Crowe looks at Proxima towards the end of the movie and goes. - Proxima, are you in danger of becoming a good man? - Oh, I wrote that down, it was the best. - And Proxima just scoffed at him. - Just get out of here. (laughs) - So, as Frankie said, we get German Hansu at Maximus to developing this kind of bond because they talk about the afterlife and German Hansu goes, I'll probably die. And I'll be waiting for my family probably for years from now. And Maximus goes, my family's already waiting for me. So, they have this like bond about death and waiting for your loved ones in the afterlife. And at one point, because Maximus has these two dolls that represent his wife and his son. - Oh yeah, this is cute. - And he's talking to them. German Hansu comes up to him and goes, do you believe they hear you in the afterlife? And he goes, yes. He goes, what do you say to them? And Maximus looks at him and goes, I tell my son to keep his heels tight as he rides his horse. And then I tell my wife, that's none of your business when I tell my wife. (laughs) - But we cut now to communist returning to Rome as the new Caesar. And he decides he's going to have a bunch of games to celebrate the life of his father and the transition of power and blah, blah, blah. And the Senate's like, well, don't you think you should actually like, you know, lead? And he's like, no, I must make the people happy because then they will be on my side and mwahaha. And they will love me. This guy just wants love, he keeps talking. I need them to love me because my daddy didn't love me and I need the people to love me. I am their father and they are my children, love me. So, he decides he's going to open the call and see him back up again, and it just sets the stage perfectly for these gladiators to return to Rome and for Maximus to have his sweet, sweet revenge. - Well, yeah, it is interesting because they do talk about him doing this is a perfect distraction for the people. You give them this spectacle, this amazing thing, then they're more distracted away from what is actually going on. We do meet Lucius? - Yes, Lucilla's son finally comes into the movie. He is walking by and happens to notice the gladiators all back there and he has a little interaction with Max. And after talking to him, he realizes like, oh, this is Lucilla's son, oh shit. (laughs) But yeah, he's played by Spencer Treat Clark, who is the kid from Unbreakable. That was the same year, actually, as this, I believe. - Good year for him. - Good year. - I would imagine he's probably pissed he's not in the sequel. He's like, "This is, I'm that guy." And I'm like, "Yes, but you're not that guy, sweetie. "You're not Paul Mescal." - Yeah, you don't have a name behind you, sir. - So sorry to report. I think he was in, what was the fucking, it wasn't split, what came after split? - Glass. - Glass, he was in glass as the character from Unbreakable, and that worked out great, 'cause, oh, it wasn't glass so successful. - Yeah. (laughs) - We do get, during another gladiator fight, Russell Crowe, Fros' sword, looks at the audience, and we get the famous line, "Are you not entertained?" - "Are you not entertained?" Pretty iconic line. - It's, arguably, the most iconic line in this movie. - Yeah, it's the only line I knew before seeing this, so, yeah. - It's not my favorite line from the movie, it's the most iconic. - It's not mine either, I don't think. - But Proximo takes Maximus to the side as he's telling him about them going back to Rome. The Colosseum has been reopened. He goes to Maximus, he goes, "You have to, like, win the people over." 'Cause if you win the people over, the Emperor may set you free. Like, he did, to me, all those years ago, and Maximus is kind of having almost a little fun with-- He's like, "Are you fucking kidding me, dude?" 'Cause he goes, "Markus Aurelius touched my shoulder." And he goes, "You knew Markus Aurelius?" And he goes, "No, I didn't say I knew him." - I just said he touched my shoulder one time. I was like, "Okay." - But he basically tells Maximus he has to be more of an entertainer. - Yes, he has to gain favor with the crowd. 'Cause he's good at being a leader, clearly, because he's able to get all the other gladiators to be on his side and sort of follow his lead. But he also needs to have a bit of entertainment value, 'cause he needs to get the people to cheer for him. And he's right, 'cause that's the only way that he's gonna keep Communist from fucking killing him the second he realizes that he's there. - Oh, wow, this is also going on. We see that Communist, of course, is at odds with the Senate. He wants to disband the Senate. But Lucilla keeps kind of, "Hey, no, don't do that. The Senate has its place." She's playing mediator. All while Communist is trying to sleep with her. - Griss. - Yeah, but we finally get our gladiators are in Rome now. - Yay. - They have decided to put Maximus and his crew in an imitation of the Battle of Carthage, which is a slaughter where the Romans kill a lot of people. - Indeed. - And they're the bad guys in that situation. They're not the Romans. - Yeah, so basically setting them up for slaughter, which Max is like, "No, we're not gonna do that." So he bans together with the other gladiators and takes the other side out, these guys on horses and carriages and things. And Communist is so impressed. He goes down there to greet the Spaniard, the leader of this little outfit. Now, Max has covered his face with this helmet, so no one really knows it's him yet. So it's just, you're just itching. I know when I was sitting there, I was like, "Yeah, yeah, get down there." And then Max is gonna rip his fucking helmet off and stab him in the face or something. I was like, "Ready for fight right there." But of course Lucius comes out with him, and he stands right in front of Communist, so Max can't exactly lunge at him. But he does take his helmet off and it is revealed that it is Maximus. And Communist pees his little pants, and Lucilla is immediately down to fuck him. Like, "Oh, baby." And Maximus gives a pretty insane speech. - My name is Maximus Decimus Maridius. Commander of the armies of the north, general of the Felix legions. Loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. - Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance in this life or the next. - The whole crowd is cheering for him, live, live, live, 'cause they wanna see him fight another day. So Communist can't just kill him right there, otherwise the people will turn on him. So Max goes back to his cell, and the confidence goes back, and he's just so, he's trying to be so calm about it, but it's so clear that he's pissing himself. He's like, "It vexes me that he's alive. "I'm terribly vexed." - So now the plan is to try and rig any possible way to kill Maximus. We get an undefeated fighter coming back to try and kill him with Tiger surrounding him. Maximus fights him off there. Kills Tony the Tiger. - He kills Tony the Tiger. - But he has the other guy in his sights and he's down, he can easily kill him and he throws his sword, and then the whole crowd cheers, "Oh, Maximus the merciful." Just making himself more of a fan favorite. - And it's pissing the fuck out of the comments. - Oh yeah, this motherfucker. He even says something at one point to try and get him to flip out. About, "Oh, when your son was dying, "he squealed like a little pig "and your wife moaned and she was so," just like egging him on to fucking attack Commodus. And I was like, "You fucking bitch, fucking kill him right now. "He'll do it to it." - Well, Maximus knows he's probably, even if he went to charge at Commodus, he wouldn't get to him. But during all this, Lucilla does secretly go and visit Maximus in his cell and is like, "Hey, I can help you kill Commodus." And we could fix this and make it right. I'll have my dad wanted it, blah, blah, blah. And Maximus isn't really fully trust her or the Senate. She's like, "You know, the Senate wants him gone too." And he's like, "Well, why don't you guys fucking kill him then? "Why do I have to do it?" But yeah, it's so very clear that she wants to fuck him. It's, they're like arguing back and forth, but like she's like this close to his face. And like, it reminded me of what Scott was bitching about when we watched Pride and Prejudice. And during the rain scene, when Elizabeth and Darcy are fighting, but then she like kind of looks like she wants to make out with him, it was basically that. (laughs) - Basically. So we go back and we meet Cicero again, who, if you don't remember, Cicero was in the very beginning when Maximus found out about Marcus Aurelius's death. He goes, "Go get the Senate." And right before Maximus gets captured and taken to almost get killed, he tells Cicero, "Hey, stay the shadows. "Don't fucking come out here and get killed." - The way we saw him now back in Rome, it looked like they fucked him up. Like they cut his face and stuff. Was that the implication? - Yeah, I think so. 'Cause I was like, "He had scars on his face." And I'm like, "I thought that first thing he was burned, "but it was clearly scars on his face." I'm like, "Did he have that in the beginning? "I don't think so." So I think it's implied that they fucked him up because he was friends with Maximus. - Probably, or at least fucked him up enough so he would fall in line. - Yeah. He goes to see Max in like his cell or whatever, and Max is like, "How are my men?" Meaning all the guys on the battlefield that he was general of. And he goes, "They're fucking bored. "They're not doing shit because "nothing's really happening right now. "But if you need them, they would fight for you tomorrow." So the plan eventually becomes, let's get Maximus out of town, get him to his men, and then he and his men will come back and fucking overthrow Commodus. Commodus finds out about this pretty quickly. - Yeah, it's pretty scary how he finds out because it is very, the whole thing with Lucilla because you see her with Commodus and he is clearly trying to seduce her, which is just making her fucking skin crawl. And then she leaves to go to see Maximus and she's like, "Okay, I arranged everything. "You're gonna go with Cicero. "Go get your men," and then blah, blah, blah. And they make out. (laughs) It's like, "Hey, my husband's dead and your wife's dead. "Why not? "Let's just make this happen." I already have a son that's basically you're your son's age, so it's like basically the same thing. You might as well just cut out the middle man or middle woman, whatever. So yeah, then she goes back to Commodus and he's sitting there with Lucius who just, really this is Lucilla's fault. She should have told her son, "Stay away from your uncle." And don't say anything about Maximus to your uncle because he's crazy, but he clearly is on to Lucilla and it's like, "You turned on me "and now I've captured you "and if you do anything, fucked up again to me. "If you look at me sideways, bitch, "I'm gonna kill your fucking son "and you're gonna love me, bitch." That's right, you're gonna fuck me and give me an heir, which is like, "Okay, clearly we're not scientists "at this point in time, so genetics isn't a thing "we understand." - No. - But you've really, okay, like it was gross. So then they kill Cicero, which was a bummer. They fucking arrest the head of the Senate whose name is Grackus who we haven't talked about. He's one of those old white guys with white hair that's indiscernible from all the other white guys with flowy hair. But he's also in the sequel, supposedly, I don't know. I know him from Doctor Who 'cause he played the master at one point on Doctor Who and Nots, which was a pretty stellar performance, but he gets arrested, Maximus gets captured. Oh, and Proxima, so this is where Proxima sacrifices himself, basically, 'cause when the soldiers or whatever come to get Maximus, he's like, "Open the gate, Proxima, "open the gate," and Proxima, who was helping Max escape, was like, "Here, take the keys and go, "and I'll hold them off." And that's when Maximus is pretty cool line. To Proxima, he's like, "Are you in danger "of becoming a good man Proxima?" And he's just like, "Ah, get out of here, fuck you." And then he has a pretty epic death in the movie where he is sort of waiting for the soldiers to come and get him basically as a sacrifice to distract from Max getting away. And the soldiers sort of sneak up on him and all just stab him repeatedly at the same time. And it's just, he has like an epic line to send us off. - Dust the ball and his baby. - Yeah, and then that's it for him. And it's really unfortunate, 'cause he's a really cool character, but-- - Well, because he is, like Maximus is the good character here. - Sure, he's our absolute good. - He's our absolute good, even in his anger for revenge. He's our absolute good. Comma, this is our absolute evil. - Sure, and then everyone else is sort of a shade of everything. - A shade of gray, but Proxima rides that line because you kind of, you understand where he is in his life of like, "Hey, all I know is being a gladiator. "I was freed and I just kept going. "I'm an entertainer. "This is what I do. "This is what I know." - Yeah, he's like, "I don't care about any of this "roam Senate bullshit. "Like, I'm an entertainer. "That's all I really give a shit about." And at the end, it's clear, like, "Yeah, not so much." He's, you know, there is good in him, which is sad, but also very, very honorable death. It was nice. - So, Maximus is chained up. - Yes. - And he's going to fight his last fight in the Colosseum. - Yeah, we're getting to that iconic climax of climaxes here. - And Commodus comes up to him as they both hear the fans chanting. They're chanting for Maximus. And he goes, "You hear that? "Well, we're gonna fight." Maximus laughs at him. - Yeah, he's like, "Really, bitch? "Okay, whatever you say." - And that causes Commodus to stab him in the lung. - Oh, I don't know if that caused it. I think he was going to do that. - Well, he was going to anyway, but... - I think he was gonna do that regardless. 'Cause he just kind of like, he goes in there, like, talking him up like, "Oh, we both loved my father. "Does that not make us brothers?" And Max is like, "Nobbitch." And then, yeah, Commodus stabs him. And he's like, "Cuff of the boon, didn't get him out there." And then they go out and fight, and fucking Max still kills his ass. - Oh, yeah, it's a great fight. - It's fucking great. But what I really loved, obviously I loved Commodus' death, just 'cause Commodus fucked that guy. But also, throughout the fight, Max is slowly bleeding out. So he kind of goes in and out of, not consciousness, but you can tell he is sort of on the bridge to the afterlife, and he's getting these visions of the afterlife as he's fighting Commodus. And then, everything just sort of goes silent after he kills him. And Max is standing there. Lucilla's crying in the stands, and everyone's just sort of stunned and silent as Max sort of makes his wishes known. The Senate must rule and release Grackus, and this is what Marcus Aurelius wanted, and let's for the people! And then he fucking passes out, and he dies in Lucilla's arms. And I, personally, I was surprised, I was very touched by it. I got goosebumps as he was dying. It was really, really, just a powerful moment. - Yeah, it is, it's powerful. He sees his home again, you know, with his wife, his kid. - Yeah, and his son's like running to him. I was like, "Oh my God." And yeah, they carry him away. They leave Commodus' rotting body on the ground, just bleeding, which is funny. - I always wonder, 'cause after Commodus gets disarmed, and Maximus drops his sword, Commodus pulls like a hidden dagger, basically, to go to stab him, and I'm like, I wonder if he doesn't pull the dagger if Maximus has enough energy left to kill him. Like, they go into fisticuffs after that. - Right, but then he pulls the little-- - He pulls the knife and like-- - Little pocket knife. - And Maximus like forces it into his neck to kill him. I'm like, so if he never pulls the knife, does Maximus have enough energy to finish this job? We'll never know, because he's clearly running out of time. - Indeed. - But he passes away, they carry his body out. We cut to the Colosseum's, basically, I think, been closed at this point. - Yeah, and I thought I was just gonna end there, but they end on Jiman Hansu, basically as a reference to earlier, when he says to Max, you know, oh, you're like Scotty was saying earlier, like you're gonna see your family again, but not yet. You still have things that you still have work to do. And Jiman, as he is burying, I think, the little dolls that Max had of his wife and son, he says about Max, I will see you again, but not yet. - Which I like, it's like there's still more to do. Life goes on, you know? - I like this little bit. I like knowing that Jiman Hansu gets to go home. - Yeah. - And I think, no, I would think if this was where it ends, Rome is in a decent place. - Yeah, I mean, I do appreciate that the story, like we were saying, is a simple story told in this grand, epic way, because you're so enamored by the grandness of it, but also you can relate to the story, you can relate to Max as like this honorable person that you as the audience would want to be in that situation. You know, you would want to be the honorable warrior that can lead an army and get revenge for your family and all this stuff. I understand like, well, I don't understand making a sequel to this. 'Cause there's so many, I mean, we've talked about this a million times on the show, there's really no reason to make sequels most of the time for the movies of our generation and like make a new version of it basically. Like, there's really no reason to make a gladiator sequel, but the fact that they're doing it makes sense 'cause it's a successful movie. And again, it's a simple story that you can very easily recreate and make cool. I have faith that the sequel is gonna be good. - Again, I hope so. - But yeah, I really enjoyed this movie. Maybe even more than I thought I was going to, which is nice. - Good, I'm glad, you know. Will I for the next couple of days in my head go, are you not entertained? - Are you not entertained? - Will I be vexed many times over the next few days? - Sure. - Sure. - Incredibly vexed. - Ah, so vexed. - But Frankie, what did you rate gladiator? - I gave it a solid four out of five stars. For the most part, I really enjoyed it. Outside of like a couple, some might say nitpicky things as far as like, certain editing choices and so on and so forth. Like, I just really, I got a kick out of it. I would definitely watch it again. Yeah, it's a solid four out of five for me. - Yes, and I have it as a 4.5 out of five. I again, yes, agree with there's some little editing nitpicks, especially as people who have done editing before. Yeah, there's some weird decisions made, but you know what? Every movie's got some weird decisions that are made. I think, again, the acting is great. The story is simple, but well told. And there's a reason that you could still watch this today and be like, yeah, it's still good. - So next week, I will be showing Scotty a movie that I've been wanting to show for a long, long time. I'm really excited about it. It's definitely a departure from Gladiator, 'cause you know us, we tend to genre jump around here, but I'm excited, so yeah. Until next week, this has been Shoot The Flick. I'm Frankie Sparks. - And I'm Scott Eisenberg. - Make sure you check us out on Instagram and Twitter at Shoot The Flick and check out all of our episodes on iTunes, Spotify, and iHeartRadio. And pretty much anywhere else you can find a podcast to make sure you come back next week for our romantic 90s. It's fuck movie adventure. - I am Gladiator. - Hear me roar. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (gentle music)
This week in honor of the impending Gladiator 2 we decided to discuss the original Gladiator from the year 2000! What will Frankie and Scot think of this Oscar Best Picture winner? Tune in to find out as they SHOOT THE FLICK !!!