At long last, I got to see the film, that has been much in the news and the oscars. The story is of a man, a powerful general, who commanded the army of rome, for his caesar.
This man Maximus, whose family is away from him, leads the roman army to victory over the barbarians. This is the start of the film. And the battle scenes have been shot quite well.The ruling caesar, is once again impressed with him. He sees in Maximus, the heir he couldn’t have. His own heir being a weakling, a conniving person, but one he believes will destroy Rome.
And so the emperor makes a request to his general, to stand by for rome. But while , maximus goes to think about it, the emperor’s son, slays the emperor. And when Maximus turns his back on him, he orders his death and of his family.
Thus continues the saga... Maximus escapes death, but arrives too late at his doorstep. From here the story shifts..MAximus is found and later sold to a gladiator trainer. After an initial refusal, he soon becomes a worthy gladiator.
Meanwhile, the young caesar plans to do away with the senate in Rome. To woo the crowds, he announces the 150 day festival at the Colloseum..( what else ? ) And it is to the colloseum, that Maximus comes...He wins over the crowd with his fighting skills...and his defiance to the caesar. He acheives his goal of killing caesar in the end.
That was the story summary. All said, The film actually failed to leave an impact on me. There are films which leave an impact, on which one can talk for days. Films like ben hur, 10 commandments etc. But this for me was a letdown.
The sets were magnificently recreated, and Russel crowe was impressive to an extent. But his wasn’t an emoting role.He has perhaps given a better performance in LA Confidential.
From a person, who has given us films like the Aliens , this was a far throw...a damp fib.