Gladiator

In 2024 Gladiator 2 came out, the sequel to the first Gladiator from 2000. We saw Gladiator in the cinema and the stunning special effects were especially impressive on the big screen. Whole parts of ancient Rome were digitally recreated and crowds augmented with additional virtual people. It was very well done and the story was also a gripping story of loyalty and betrayal with a royal quantity of violence. In the opening scenes we see general Maximus, played by Russell Crowe, in a final battle successfully conquering the Germans and bringing ‘peace’ in the Empire. After the battle the dying emperor asks him to go to Rome to protect the senate and to help make Rome a republic again. Commodus, the ambitious son of the emperor doesn’t accept the decision and he murders his father to become Caesar. He orders Maximus killed and from then on the true story of the movie unfolds according to the tag line, spoken by Commodus near the end of the movie : The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. The story, the dialogues, the performances and scenography all make it a great movie, the lead actor performances are excellent : Russell Crowe as Maximus, Connie Nielsen as sister of Commodus and former lover of Maximus and Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus. He portrays the ambitious, insecure and tormented emperor very well and adds emotion to the movie. All the time you are watching and waiting until he will finally meet his end. The movie is two and a half hours long and still it feels like it ends too soon.