(Rated R)
Move over Ben Hur. Richard Harris serves as the aging Emperor Marcus Aurelius who orders that Maximus (Russell Crowe) be his successor instead of his son Commodus. Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) thus kills his father and orders the death of Maximus who tries to escape, and so the story begins with slaves, coliseums, and gladiators. Maximus is trained to be a gladiator under the experience of Proxmo (Oliver Reed) who by the way died of a real life heart attack during the final days of filming. Think “Spartacus” in a more sophisticated special-effects movie in 2000. This summer blockbuster type got a jump on the traditional Memorial Day releases. Crowe is perfect in taking the right opportunity to show his unknown versatility in this unusual bad boy role. Crowe’s character is fiction. The others are drawn from history. Following his role as the sympathetic good-guy in “The Insider” Crowe’s follow up as an ancient Rome’s gladiator is exactly what will make him unaffordable for his next film.
