I've never seen another movie that had me attached to the protagonist like this, cheering with him in every fight, mourning with him in every loss. Masterpiece, damn near close to perfection. Glad you watched! :)
LiivReacts Precious Liiv, could you give your adoring fans a PO Box or some such where you’d be comfortable receiving Amazon and other assorted gifts to support your cause?
Commodus is definitely on my top 3 list of hateable movie characters, along with Percy Wetmore from the Green Mile & Count Mondego from The Count of Monte Cristo ('02)
Which means Joaquin Phoenix did his job in a masterful way. I love this movie, and the more times I watch it, the more I realize how incredible he is in this movie.
As an Italian myself (namely, being a son of those Ancient Latin peoples of Rome), I have to admit that, perhaps, an Italian director would have not been able to give birth to such a masterpiece as well as a UK director (like Ridley Scott) did. After all, UK peoples come from the Stratford Upon Avon's Bard, they've got the Epics in their blood...!❤️🔥🇬🇧😎
Guys this movie was insane!!! what an epic journey, my favourite reaction I have done to date. Hope you all enjoy. For best audio experience I suggest wearing headphones with volume UP
Give us a PO Box or somewhere you’d be comfortable receiving Amazon and a jersey size (I’m guessing Men’s Jersey size, so S or M, I might imagine.). I’d like, if you don’t mind to send you something.
Agreed awesome film . Your right commodious is evil, but more than you know, in deleted scenes they explain he is paying for all these games with the people's food money. ( poor people on social welfare) about a million people would eventually starve. Probably in less than a year
Shane Nolan That’s historically a bit dubious. The basic policy of emperors to the people was well-established: ‘Panem et Circensis.’ It means ‘Bread and Circuses’ and refers to the formula for keeping the mob quiet. If the people were fed and entertained they’d, historically, go along with anything the emperor wanted to do. We have historical accounts from when the empire’s primary city moved east to Constantinople and the city was withstanding an extended siege that the emperor chose to distract the people by continuing the gladiatorial games. The people were so hungry that they called out to the emperor and crew putting on the games “How much for that meat? We’ll buy that!” over the bodies of slain gladiators. Now, that’s in a time of obvious crisis. No emperor would, especially one so eager to curry the favor of the people, be so stupid as to cut the people’s rations. Emperors would cut funding to roads or public works or, literally, anything else rather than either food or entertainment.
globextradingsystems LLC At best, maybe. We have no more than one or two actual descriptions of gladiator matches specifically. The best account says nothing more than the crowd “indicates their desire and the editor of the games, usually the emperor, then makes the final decision known with a hand gesture,” and that’s all we have. It could have been a finger or thumb to the sky to say “send him to the gods” or a thumb or finger pointed earthward, meaning “keep him here!” We just don’t know. This movie makes a mistake when Maximus fights the group battle just before his identity is revealed. Did you catch it? Maximus’ group wins, his identity is revealed, then Commodus gives him the thumbs up for “live.” What for? Maximus’ group won, no judgement on them is called for. The only judgement required in this situation is the fate of any of the survivors of the losing side. This and virtually every gladiator picture omits an incredibly important character. At every gladiatorial combat an imposing figure in black robes and death mask hovered wielding, most commonly, a long-handled hammer. Virtually every gladiator film has the winning gladiator delivering the coup de grace at the behest of the editor of the games but this isn’t at all accurate. Once the defeated gladiator’s fate was up to the editor, the victorious gladiator’s job was done. The life/death signal wasn’t delivered to the winning gladiator, but to the looming figure that was the embodiment of death itself. If the editor signaled ‘death,’ the defeated’s skull was smashed by the hammer-wielding ‘death’ figure. This prevented a gladiator from appearing to kill his opponent but actually sparing him by delivering only a bloody flesh wound, rather than a true killing stroke. A smashed skull couldn’t be faked.
Since you liked this you should watch Braveheart, came out 5 years before Gladiator. Was nominated for 10 Academy awards, won 5 including Best Picture and Best Director.
When Lucilla whispers "you're home" to Maximus as he dies...very few movie lines in all of cinema history evoke such melancholy, yet such elation. It gets me EVERY single time....
@@liivreacts he was ... didn't win. For Best Supporting actor. Crowe won for actor. It took until like ... Game of Thrones to hate a character more ... that's how good he was lol
Remember, they thought Maximum to be a coward. So in the first gladiator fight they chained "fighters" to "cowards". And it is kind of easy to miss, but when the boy said "I am Maximum, Savior of Rome!" he inadvertently spilled the beans on his mother's plan.
Great reaction! I’m a huge Russell Crowe fan, and I love this movie. I’ve seen it many times and I still cry at the end. This won the Best Picture Academy Award, and Russell won Best Actor. He was such a huge star back then, with a number of great films, one after another. Would love to see you react to any of them. His best: “L.A. Confidential”, “A Beautiful Mind”, “Master and Commander: Far Side of the World”, or “Cinderella Man” - all are fantastic. Subscribed.
It's interesting how just about every person I have seen react to this film, says as soon as they see Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus, before he even speaks: "Oh I don't trust this guy, he just LOOKS evil..."
Gotta hit you with the proper History, precious Liiv. Marcus Aurelius was an exceptional emperor. Educated, witty, learned, wrote many works on ‘how to live a good life’ and the like. Commodus was his son, did succeed him, did NOT die in the Colosseum, was no better or worse than average-to-below-average as Roman emperors went. There were quite a few worse for numerous reasons. No emperor can be shown to have ever considered turning power back over to the Senate…..
The Romans had the predictable problem of all empires: no clear, reliable, peaceful means of succession. For long swaths of Roman History, the death of an emperor automatically meant the opening bell of a civil war/war of succession. Over time it weakened the empire. Turning power back over to the Senate, though, bought you nothing. All it’d do was swap the problems of a single corrupt leader with the problems of rule by a group of corrupt leaders. At least with one corrupt leader, you’d gain the possible, occasional advantage of unity of command. One guy in charge, one vision for dealing with problems. Turning power to the Senate doesn’t guarantee ‘better’ actions but it does guarantee endless debates and frequent settling for actions that benefit this or that bloc of Senators that day, month or year with no guarantee the decisions finally decided upon won’t be countermanded and all for naught the next tine the Senate met. What saved Rome and allowed it to survive as long as it did was the professional bureaucrat offices that grew to support the emperors’ orders.
The emperor decides to build a road or aqueduct or go to war, it was the bureaucracy that gathered the money and supplies and men to carry out the task. Emperors came and went but the bureaucracy usually carried on no matter whose face was on the money or name was on the public work completed by their efforts.
That’s not to say the bureaucracy wasn’t prone to corruption, as well. When the Roman Empire moved its power center and headquarters to the east, to Constantinople (Modern day Istanbul) the bureaucracy was predominantly staffed by eunuchs, people who couldn’t leave behind sons to inherit their offices but that still doesn’t prevent sacks of gold changing hands to steer governmental business, contracts, etc to or away from different people as it directly benefited the highest ranking eunuch.
Before the emperors, while Rome was still a Republic (Run by the Senate) the Romans themselves, due to their History, had a pathological fear of a single man taking all the power, yet still recognized the need to have the unity of command I mentioned above. Their solution was a rather clunky scheme where two men were chosen by the Senate each year to occupy the office of Consul. Essentially, co-Presidents or co-PMs with executive powers to build, name governors, wage war and more. The two men, raised from the Senatorial ranks had equal power and, during war, would, literally, alternate days as the commander of the Army in the field. Because you’re such a smarty-pants, precious Liiv, I already hear the question formulating in your super sharp brain: “Hang on a minute, what if the two guys hated each other? What if one of them wanted to fight an enemy and the other thought it better to wait? What if the two Consuls disagreed on an issue or so loathed one another they’d actively work against each other at every turn?”…..
Look at you go, dearest Liiv!!!! Look at the super sharp brain that produced such an insightful question! Well done, ma’am! Yep, that happened a lot. All the way to the point that Consul A would March the army all day toward an enemy only to have the Army retrace their exact steps the next day when Consul B took over. Rinse and repeat. The Senators that assassinated Julius Caesar did so not because of his successes but because, from their point of view, he wasn’t observing even the forms of the long-established Roman norms of sharing power. They stabbed him to death on the floor of the Senate but the norm was then broken for all time and that ushered in series of Emperors that only for brief periods of time considered sharing power with, at most, one or two other emperors with clear geographic borders between them (“These territories are mine, those yours.”) but never with any body of men to include the Senate. The irony is that the logo of the Romans, ‘SPQR,’ though visible everywhere through the reigns of all the emperors was the closest the Senate would ever get to political power. It stands for ‘Senatus Populus Quod Romana,’ the Senate and People Are Rome.’ The logo and sentiment lasted from the beginning to the end but absent any real political power. The emperors had to talk up the Senate, publicly, then go about their rule merrily ignoring them and doing precisely what they liked.
Such a wonderful film, a real masterpiece. I hardly ever believe that, this movie is flawless. And that was such a good reaction! I wish more people were aware of this channel! Keep up the great content Liiv 🙏
The litle figurines Maximus is praying are called penates, were representing gods of home and family. In french, we have an expression : "rentrer dans ses penates" meaning "going back to ones penates" (going back home).
Clearly one of the greatest movies of all time. And that soundtrack! And one of the best villains with Joaquin Phoenix, just so good. Wonderful reaction, you were into it with all your heart. :) That is just how good the movie is!
You were right about Richard Harris, legendary Irish actor being the OG Dumbledore. Both senior Dumbledores, Richard Harris and Michael Gambon, are Irish.
I was on set watching the huge battle scene being filmed it was filmed Aldershot Military Town England we was invited on set for the day. It was awesome
If it's possible to add the subtitles to the film it helps connect the dialogue to your input. I realize copyright is a massive obstacle with image & soundtrack. I’m glad you're back to reacting; the same film can go to 3 reactors with mixed results. Some people just have an intelligent look in their eye and the camera loves them…that is among your gifts.
I saw this movie 20 years ago, with no idea what I was getting into. Expected a mediocre action movie, got probably the greatest theatrical experience of my life.
So nice to see some new reactions on this channel. Been a while. :) When an actor makes you hate a character, really really hate. Isn't that the biggest thumbs up to the actor itself? There is only 1 character that I can remember that I hate more than Commodus. That is Joffrey Baratheon from game of thrones. Granted, I haven't seen all seasons of Game of thrones, so do not know every detail.
In real life, things worked out much better for Giannina Facio, the Costa Rican actress who played Maximus' wife. She married director Ridley Scott in 2015.
Probably one of most favorite reactions hands down to my most favorite most watched annually film pretty much all time, Gladiator! Ton of enjoyable fun reactions to this film, and appreciate the being in the moment and quotable quotes: “OG Dumbledore” and chuckled over coffee with “are they gonna kiss?” 😄 Awesome play by play reaction, observations, predictions and commentary and the expectations were on point! I thoroughly enjoyed it and very much appreciated the expectation feels for the ending!
Nice review there's another criminally underrated gem Boxing 🥊 movie the. 1992 " Gladiator " with Cuba Gooding James Marshall and Brian Dennehy Good story fights love friendship morals Nice soundtrack In mean tough street's of Chicago I'm surprised it so overlooked and doesn't get it's dues and recognition
For another good Russell Crowe movie one directed by Ron Howard do "A Beautiful Mind" (2001). It won 4 Academy awards including Best Picture and Best Director, and is based on a true story. Best to go into this one blind, no research in case of spoilers. 😎👍 Another good one of Crowe's is "The Insider" (1999), about the tobacco corporations.
You’re back!! I remember you from way back when you first watched Star Wars. You’ve taken a hiatus right. Well it’s great to see you back. And if I could just toss out a totally random movie suggestion for the channel. “The Crow” (1994) Good to see you back Liiv!
There's a reason the Roman Empire extended so far, and it is precisely as you pointed out Liv: their armies were FAR more organized, trained, and resolved than the enemies they fought. To the north were the 'barbarian' tribes of the Gauls, Goths, Germans, and Celts, who were at war with each other more often than not, and could not present a unified front to impede the Roman war machine. The vast resources they had access to, as well as the technology they developed, gave them an edge that few could match. It wasn't until much later that the Goths and the Gauls had had enough of being pushed around by the Romans and united to sack the city. The Picts and Celts in northern Britannia also began to wear away at the defenses of Hadrian's Wall as resupply and reinforcement was difficult to procure, and eventually the Romans abandoned the islands to the barbarians.
The greatest roman generals were very clever men,yes. You could tell the ones that gained their position because of who they knew instead of what they knew,trust me ;)
The story is based in a small truth. Commodus did prefer gladiator games to ruling, but he fought in the games and was killed by a fellow fighter Narcissus after he was paid by collaborators. I can't confirm if Commodus killed Aurelius or not.
Commodus was played by Joaquin Phoenix and you are supposed to hate him. You emotions are a testament to how well he played this role. (in some ways he is the star of this movie)
note- Maximus was a commander NOT an Emperor but what a great return to the old Hollywood Roman epic, sadly not yet equalled by films like - TROY let alone exceeded, there were some ignorant critisisms when this film was released saying it was another SPARTACUS but it isnt there are too many differences and for the better I'd say.
Thank you for the feedback Geo, a couple of people have mentioned audio and maybe putting on subtitles to also help! Will make sure to look at this for my next recording
I never understand what people mean when they say it's not what he deserved, it's life nothing is fair, those are the movies I like the most, not Disney fairytale endings.
Great film and reaction. Enjoyed your enthusiasm. Would have enjoyed it even more if the volume of the film was louder so I could hear the dialogue that you were reacting to. Will watch more.
@@liivreacts here's some movies for you to react to The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) Enter The Dragon (1973) From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) Pulp Fiction (1994) Police Story(1985) Snatch(2000) Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) Scream(1996) The Mask Of Zorro (1998) Pan's Labyrinth (2006) No Country For Old Men(2007) Mission Impossible (1996) Fist Of Legend (1994) RoboCop (1987) The Lost Boys (1987) Face/Off(1997) Air Force One (1997) Tremors(1990) Scarface(1983) The Untouchables (1987) Minority Report (2002) Appaloosa (2008) Open Range (2003) The Mask Of Zorro (1998) The Crow(1994) Hellboy (2004) Hellboy 2 The Golden Army (2008) The Quick & The Dead(1995) Quigley Down Under (1990) The Goonies(1985) Coming To America (1988) Ace Ventura Pet Detective (1994) The Lost Boys (1987) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) Sleepy Hollow (1999) Batman(1989) Batman Returns (1992) Sin City (2005) 300(2006) V For Vendetta (2006) Blade(1998) Blade 2(2002) Blade Trinity (2004) Equilibrium (2002) Memento(2000) Candyman(1992) The Howling(1981) Lethal Weapon (1987) Escape From New York (1981) The Thing(1982) Big Trouble In Little China(1986) Oops lol I got a little carried away 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Liked & subscribed. I enjoyed your reaction. After seeing your reaction to Joaquin Phoenix playing Commodus in Gladiator I can't wait for you to see the character "Percy" in the brilliant Tom Hanks film The Green Mile - probably one of the best acted bad guys in a film that gets the best comeuppance EVER!!!! You'll really love the Tom Hanks feel good (and probably one of the best films ever made) "Forrest Gump" too. Enjoy Liiv & thank me later 🎥🤔🤩☀️🙌👍
It seems you knw nothing of world history. Yes, the Roman Empire was huge. It controlled half of the island you call home, England. Have you heard of Hadrain's Wall? Well, this is the Northern most expanse of the Roman Empire. Yes, the Roman military were more organized and advanced than most during that time frame, hence the reason why they conquered almost the entire known world.
Where are you from? I sometimes hear you use an Americanized rotic R, and other times use the more anglo non-rotic R. Is it something like your parents are aussie but you were raised in America?
Correction , Maximus won the fight. As for the ending , no way...that is the perfect ending, instead of having your typical all is good at the end . He marries the empress and have many kids blah blah like the rest of 90 % of the movies. That is one of the things that makes it unique
I just discovered you, got one important question: why is the volume of the film so low? I watch 5-6 movie reactors, and you have by far the lowest volume of them all. I'd like to add you to my list of reactors, but I also need to hear video parts. 🤗
Ah yes the usual question of why the Romans left the bodys of maximus's family on display coming from a person who doesn't know that they lined the main roads into Rome with the crucified slaves from Spartacus's failed slave rebellion
She'll probably assume Braveheart is historical because it portrays itself as if its historical, but its based on an Anglophobic Scottish poem written 400 years after the actual events. The truth is both England and Scotland has done terrible things to each other, but we're friends now
