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Dom Robinson reviews Gladiator “What we do in life, echoes in eternity.” Distributed by 
Columbia TriStar
- Cert:
- Cat.no: UDR 90098
- Running time: 149 minutes
- Year: 2000
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, 4, PAL
- Chapters: 29 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS ES Matrix 6.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: 17 languages available.
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: 2 * DVD 9
- Price: £24.99
- Extras: From the Cutting Room Floor, The Making of Gladiator, Gladiator Games: Roman Blood Sport, Hans Zimmer: Composing Gladiator, My Gladiator Journal, Original Storyboards, Stills Gallery, Trailers and TV spots, Cast and Crew, Production Notes, Audio Commentary
Director:
- Ridley Scott
(1492: Conquest of Paradise, Alien, Black Rain, Blade Runner, G.I. Jane, Gladiator, Legend, Thelma and Louise, White Squall)
Producers:
- Douglas Wick, David Franzoni and Branko Lustig
Screenplay:
- David Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson
Music:
- Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard
Cast:
- Maximus Decimus Meridius: Russell Crowe
Commodus: Joaquin Phoenix
Lucilla: Connie Nielsen
Proximo: Oliver Reed
Marcus Aurelius: Richard Harris
Gracchus: Derek Jacobi
Juba: Djimon Hounsou
Lucius: Spencer Treat Clark
Gladiators… READY!
It’s the year 180 A.D. and Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) is a brilliant general, framed for murder of Caesar, aka Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris), the son of Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) who wants to rule as he sees fit, dissolving the senate and ruling alone as an emperor.
Trying to dispose of his dirty work he attempts to have Maximus executed but the film can’t end before it’s hardly begun and he escapes home to find his wife and child murdered. He is then taken to the Roman province of Zucchabar where he is bought by Proximo (Oliver Reed in his last ever film – he died during its making and was replaced in some scenes by stand-ins and CGI work) and trained to be the best Gladiator in the ring.
Proximo teaches him to win the crowd. Then you win, not because you kill more quickly than the rest, but because the crowd loves you more. In the midst of all this he comes face to face with Commodus and they must have their final showdown.
The film also stars Connie Nielsen as Commodus’ sister Lucilla, Spencer Treat Clark as her son Lucius, Derek Jacobi as senate member Gracchus and Amistad‘s Djimon Hounsou as Maximus’ friend Juba.
The picture looks excellent a lot of the time, particularly for bright scenes but dark ones aren’t always quite what they could be. The film is presented in the original 2.35:1 ratio (not 1.85:1 as the PR material previously indicated, thankfully) and is anamorphic. The average bitrate is a middling 5.98Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 8Mb/s.
The sound is available in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS ES Matrix 6.1 (not Discrete 6.1 like the Region 1 DVD). I can only listen to the former but it’s brilliantly realised in the action scenes when in battle and in the ring. The dialogue moments make use of gentle ambient effects. Hans Zimmer‘s score is very much like that for Crimson Tide.
We have not been as blessed as the Americans yet though, since they have the latest versions of these sound formats in Dolby Digital 6.1 EX and DTS 6.1 ES Discrete, for which you need an extra rear-centre speaker and the equipment for this to function, which isn’t generally available yet in the UK.
Extras : A whole second disc is devoted to these extras which are as follows :
- From the Cutting Room Floor (32 mins) : 12 deleted scenes, all but the last one having an optional director’s commentary track attached as the final one is a collage assembled by the editor, ranging from Maximus observing the wounded after the initial battle victory to the Christians being approached by lions in the ring. All of these are in Dolby Pro Logic and are not anamorphic.
- The Making of Gladiator (25 mins) : An “HBO First Look” featurette with clips from the film mixed with comments and chat from the cast and crew.
- Gladiator Games: Roman Blood Sport : Taken from American TV, this is the entire 50-minute programme from The Learning Channel, “The Bloodsport of a Gladiator” and looks at the sport in question.
- Hans Zimmer: Composing Gladiator : A 20-minute interview with the composer on his thoughts and feelings upon creation of the score.
- My Gladiator Journal : A production diary by actor Spencer Treat Clark, who plays Commodus’ nephew, Lucius.
- Original Storyboards : 6 scenes laid out in storyboard format.
- Stills Gallery : Scores of pictures from portraits to locations.
- Trailers and TV spots : A 60-second Theatrical Teaser in 4:3 and Dolby ProLogic, a 90-second Theatrical Trailer in the same format and Five TV Spots over a little longer than two minutes.
- Cast and Crew : Info on many members involved, but they don’t include a full summary of all the films with which each has been involved.
- Production Notes : Several more pages of info about the film.
- Audio Commentary : A feature-length audio commentary from director Ridley Scott, editor Pietro Scalia and cinematographer John Mathieson. This particular extra is part of disc 1.
There are 29 chapters which isn’t too bad, but for such a long film I’d like to see more. Dialogue is in English only, while there are subtitles in 17 languages: English, Dutch, Polish, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Icelandic, Swedish, Norwegian, Croatian, Hebrew, Turkish, Danish, Hindi, Finnish, Czech, Arabic and Greek.
The main menus on each disc have some subtle animation worked with the score, while not all of the submenus get the same treatment.
Overall, over the weekend I was watching both this and Joan of Arc, I expected to find that one incredibly dull and Gladiator brilliant in the extreme. The former wasn’t quite that, but as for this one I was very disappointed.
All you see in the trailers are the battle and gladiator ring scenes. They look great and are, but they’re too short and inbetween come great expanses of dialogue that can put you to sleep. At least Joan of Arc managed to keep you entertained during the less heroic moments.
We get the idea instantly that Commodus is an evil bastard so why does it need to be spelt out slowly? It’s also not as violent as I thought it would be because all entry/exit wounds are either just off camera or last one or two frames so you can’t see it for long. There are also the tired old platitudes about how great people are, all said with the same insincerity that has gone before them many a time.
Never mind Ridley, this should’ve been directed by TONY Scott, who would’ve brought in Jerry Bruckheimer to spice things up a bit.
If you did enjoy Gladiator though then this DVD is for you because of the huge amount of extras within.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL 
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.