Thats true, I remember watching this mowie as a teenager and since then I litterally hated Joaquin Phoenix as an actor, I couldn't stand him basically. Then I totally forget about him since I've seen Joker and he blown me away in this movie... So I have matured and don't hate actors based of their roles anymore.😅
@@ChrisBLACK777 He's had his fair share of hell on earth with "The Children of God" whole affair and the loss of his brother "River" outside the Viper Club which was truly tragic the way it all went down and yet he's preserved and triumphed in so many ways.
They're also responsible for one of the biggest bromances in Hollywood. Joaquin has said he considers Russell his brother which is pretty profound after losing his brother Phoenix 7 years earlier. Just goes to show the quality of their acting that they bonded so closely during the making of this but portrayed such convincing hatred for each other.
The scene where Russell Crowe's describing his home, he's actually describing where he lives in real life, that's why you can see so much emotion. Brilliant!
Joaquin Phoenix does a disgustingly amazing job as Commodus. Russel Crowe does a vicious heartfelt job as Maximus. This movie is genuinely a tour de force of acting prowess.
Jen, you should definitely give 'Master and Commander' a look. Another period movie with Russell Crowe that was sadly overlooked when it first came out.
Yes! It was overlooked b/c "Return of the King' came out the same year. M&C is regarded as highly accurate depiction of the times and sailing practices.
I would say this is loosely based upon history, with real characters and an accurate portrayal of Roman life and of the city, but with many liberties taken as to real historical events (and people). Great performances here. And yes, Ridley Scott also did Alien - he has amazing range.
It's a movie where he does something that he absolutely would not do based on past behavior and somehow makes it totally believable. He sells the shit out of that character.
For another Ridley Scott historical epic - The Kingdom of Heaven (please only watch the director's cut or roadshow edition!) For another Ridley & Russell collab - 2010's Robin Hood
Seen maybe 20 or 30 reactions to this movie, and someone finally hit it out of the park. Thank you Jen! An all-time classic revenge movie that deserved all of the awards it received. And you hit all of the right notes, great and terse commentary that lets the story breathe as we watch with you. All of the emotion and anger really put us in a 'first time watching' mode all over again. Just a perfect YT reaction!
"I will see you again. But not yet." I'm not crying you're crying. 35:11 "Ridley Scott, did he do Aliens?" Close. He did the first one. Alien. And Blade Runner. And The Martian. And my absolute favourite, that very few people have reacted to: "1492: Conquest of Paradise".
Fun fact - The actor who played senator Gracus Derek Jacobi is a very well known actor in the U.K. and played the Emperor Claudius in the 1976 on the BBC series I, Claudius…
Stanley Kubrick's epic "Spartacus," from which "Gladiator" was partly inspired, is also worth a watch. It stars a host of Hollywood royalty like Kirk Douglas (Michael Douglas' father), Tony Curtis (Jamie Lee Curtis' father), and Sir Lawrence Olivier. You would also love Kirk Douglas in the legendary Billy Wilder's morality play called "Ace in the Hole." A brilliant classic and a wonderful example of how good Kirk was as a versatile actor.
One of my all time favorites and one of the very few I give an A+ rating. I knew this one was going to get you. It gets just about everyone. Thanks for the awesome reaction and for sharing those "tough" moments with us.👏🏽👏🏽
@@mattp6089 Romper Stomper is a powerful film and I do like it, but I feel Crowe grew a bit in his acting prowess after it. Even the jump to L.A. Confidential (1997) I think he was already a noticeably more confident and powerful actor.
@@Matej_Sojka I always go back to A Beautiful Mind when I think of his peak acting ability. And then Cinderella Man. I think it's because they're both based on true stories, and they turn out to be legendary stories and roles. His John Nash performance I think is one of the best roles to not win an Oscar in Hollywood history. He was the best back then.
“Are we so different now?” Jen, you uttered the most timely and insightful question of ANY reactor to this movie whom I have seen. I have loved your reactions for a long time now, but with that line you demonstrated the depth of perception that places you in the pantheon of reactor goddesses! You know the answer to your own question about the people of your neighboring country.
Beautiful reaction - my heart hurt too! I love Russel Crowe in Master and Commander… another period piece based on O’Brian’s wonderful historical fiction from the Age of Sail. Keep’em coming!
Russell Crowe was in LA Confidential (1997) and The Insider (1999) before this movie. He was nominated for an Oscar for The Insider. So this was one of his first big roles, but he was already a pretty big name by the time this came out.
@@BandOfHarjaps I said "big role". Rompa Stompa was an Australian film that made $3 million at the US box office. For comparison, this made $460 million.
@@BandOfHarjaps and that's fine. That proves he's always been talented. But Jen asked if Gladiator was Russell Crowe's "first big role". A small Australian movie doesn't qualify.
If you haven't done so, your next ancient history/fiction movies should be "The Ten Commandments" and "Ben-Hur." Charlton Heston is featured as the protagonist in each movie.
In response to your question about how real it is, I'd say based upon real events. Maximus' character is fictional but Commodus was real, he was the son of Marcus Aurelius and did play at being a gladiator whilst Emperor (once killed 100 lions in the arena) but that's about as far as the reality goes I believe.
I think Vituosity(with Denzel) was his 1st big movie as a star. Then LA Confidential which was an ensomble cast. Then The Insider(with Al Pacino) about the tobacco indutry. Then Gladiator made him a superstar and Oscar winner.
From Wikipedia (the film has some fact, some fiction): Commodus (31 August 161 - 31 December 192) was a Roman emperor who ruled from 177 to 192. He served jointly with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until the latter's death in 180, and thereafter he reigned alone until his assassination by Narcissus. His reign is commonly thought to mark the end of a golden age of peace and prosperity in the history of the Roman Empire (the Pax Romana). Commodus accompanied his father during the Marcomannic Wars in 172 and on a tour of the Eastern provinces in 176. The following year, he became the youngest emperor and consul up to that point, at the age of 16. His solo reign saw less military conflict than that of Marcus Aurelius, but internal intrigues and conspiracies abounded, goading Commodus to an increasingly dictatorial style of leadership. This culminated in his creating a deific personality cult, including his performances as a gladiator in the Colosseum.
Pretty much everything Comodus does is to be loved but he has no idea how to do it. It's a tragedy in the end through Phoenix ' acting you can see how tomented he is. He probably hates himself more than anyone.
Gladiators were so popular at the time that some of them even got sponsorship deals. There was supposed to be a scene where Maximus starts hawking olive oil but producers feared audiences would find it too unrealistic.
Been watching you for about a year, and you have quickly become my favorite reactor. You just generally have the same tastes and sense of humor that I do, and I love seeing you see my favorite things for the first time. I grew up watching ST:TNG with my dad, and getting to watch it vicariously through you has been a bright point for me these past few months. It’s the best hard sci-fi show ever and watching you discover it is like seeing it with new eyes all over again. I just now found out you had reacted to this, my favorite film of all time, and once again I get to relive the experience. Thank you; keep discovering new art, new worlds… and keep sharing it with us please.
hey i just realized after so many years that joaquin phoenix is american, but he's doing the accent really well here! what a pro this guy, he's on that top level
Richard Harris who played the old emperor is in an excellent western mainly about native Americans- A Man Called Horse. Also the vocalist in the family death scene was done by Lisa Gerrard who was/is part of Dead Can Dance.
HI Jen, This is loosely based on real historical events in the late 2nd century A.D. If the music soundtrack style sounds familiar to you it was created by Hans Zimmer who scored the Pirates of the Caribbean, the Batman Trilogy and some of the great movie scores of the last three decades. Gladiator took home the Oscar for Best Picture and Russell Crowe for Best Actor. And once again congratulations to you for getting out of your comfort zone to watch this classic. I always look forward to all you reactions.
I went to see this in theaters when it came out , did not know what to expect but was blown away by the action and acting. Scenes where epic, just fantastic movie with great performances around. Great reaction as always Jen
One of my favourite movies. The music is by Hans Zimmer who did the music for Crimson Tide and Pirates of the Caribbean. Great reaction and commentary.
From the article, Commodus | Biography, Facts, Sister, & Death Meanwhile, Commodus was lapsing into insanity. He gave Rome a new name, Colonia Commodiana (Colony of Commodus), and imagined that he was the god Hercules, entering the arena to fight as a gladiator or to kill lions with bow and arrow. On December 31, 192, his advisers had him strangled by a champion wrestler, following his announcement the day before that he would assume the consulship, dressed as a gladiator. A grateful Senate proclaimed a new emperor-the city prefect, Publius Helvius Pertinax-but the empire quickly slipped into civil war.
Marcus Aurelius was one of the wisest of the Stoics, and as such he was one of the wisest men to ever live. His “Meditations” is a must read for anyone, though it can be difficult to understand the way it was originally written. There are some great videos on RU-vid that interpret and break down his lessons.
Ridley Scott has directed my top 3 historical "sword&armor" films ever: Gladiator (2000), Kingdom of Heaven director's cut (2005) and Robin Hood director´s cut (2010). Scott is just amazing. Yes, Roman medicine did use larva's to clean out dead tissue.They were also able to bind arteries before amputation, not just cauterizing the wound with burning hot iron. When Rome fell, these skills were forgotten. Amputation skill reached same level than in Roman army in World War 1 next time. Also Larvae to clean necrotic flesh is used in modern science. Its called the maggot therapy.
The philosophy behind the roman games was Bread and Circuses - keep the rabble of Rome fed and entertained, and they won't threaten the political order.
Jen, you should also watch the Star Trek: TOS episode with that title; I believe you haven't seen that one yet. The Enterprise visits a planet whose society is based on Rome.
Winner of 5 Oscars including Best Picture. ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!? Before Russell Crowe was cast as Maximus, Antonio Banderas, Mel Gibson, Tom Sizemore and Tom Cruise were considered for the role. Hugh Jackman was even considered for the role but was an unknown actor and had been cast as Wolverine in the live action X MEN movie, which was originally given to Crowe a year ago but turned it down. Filming began in January 1999 and wrapped up in May of that year. The opening battle scene was filmed in Surrey England, the gladiator training school was filmed in Morocco and finally the scenes involving Ancient Rome were filmed in Malta for 19 weeks. Crowe sustained several injuries during filming and almost died as a result, and nearly got himself killed by the tiger while fighting Tigris Of Gaul. Oliver Reed, Proximo, died of a heart attack on May 2, 1999. The film was dedicated in his memory.
Thank you for a wonderful reaction. There's a reason this film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, and won 5 (Picture, Actor, Costume, Sound, Visual Effects). A great film in cinematic history.
Russell Crowe. Went from playing a mailman in the Aussie TV Show 'Neighbours' to playing a Roman General turned Gladiator. Another movie I liked him in was the western "The Quick and the Dead" (1995) co-starring alongside Sharon Stone & Gene Hackman. Another excellent reaction Jen 😍👍🏻
@@jenmurrayxo Also highly recommend the quick and the dead. Sharon Stone starred and (iirc) produced and basically made the movie happen, and it's got a bunch of other good actors such as Gene Hackman.
At the very start of the movie Maximus overrides an order from Quintus to move their artillery back. He says the danger to their cavalry is "acceptable." This might give you the idea that Maximus is a callous commander who uses his men as pawns. He immediately turns this on its head by going off to his secret side army to lead the cavalry charge himself. He wouldn't order his men to take a risk he wouldn't take himself. That is a beautifully subtle bit of character writing to clue the audience in to what kind of man and leader the main character is.
Favorite film ever ! Everything is awesome, the cast is incredible, soundtracks is perfect and Commodus is an hell of a villain, people seem to have discovered Joaquin Phoenix just with Joker , but the man has been a legend for 20 years. No the film isn't perfect, of course there are some historically inaccuracies but who cares, it's the same case of Braveheart , it has some flaws when compared to real life, but the film is so fucking cool that you just ignore that, overall is an absolutely masterpiece, with one of the most powerful endings I've seen and it deserved every single Oscar and also should've won for best Score, Hans Zimmer is a god !
"Even at the end of it, even when you've won." "Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won." - Duke of Wellington. Great minds think alike. 😉
Marcus Aerelus was a great man, he's the old guy who (for some reason) this movie chose to bequethe his empire to Maximus when in reality he did to Comodus. Commodus just s had no interest in ruling and is seen as a terrible emperor for that....also this movie gives him a way better exit in life than the actual one. That being said Marcus Aereleus was post mortem one of the two or three top stoic philosphers after his journal was found...he also famously put down a rebellion and held off germanic tribes from invading Rome. I cant recommend his journal enough, it's called "Meditations" and it's just quotes and thoughts that show so much wisdom. Truly the philospher king.
I do believe that at least two academy awards were taken by this production, one for best picture, and of course one for best actor, Russel Crowe. And yes, Hans Zimmer did the music for this motion picture. Also, the actor Oliver Reed who played Proximo died during the filming of 'Gladiator,' but his performance here was stellar. Well done Riddley Scott and Cast!
While the battle at the start tactics are totally wrong it does show great how much of a machine the Roman legion was compared to everything else around it and how far ahead they were and why they did what they did
Hi Jen, you're reaction to the murder of Maximus's family was the most authentic I've seen yet. Heartbreaking to watch. Two films I strongly recommend: For more Roman gladiator stuff, Spartacus from 1960, directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Kirk Douglas. It's a classic. Also the movie Master and Commander starring Russel Crowe and Paul Bettany. Its an epic Napoleonic era sea adventure. I know you'd really enjoy them, great stories, great action, great characters, and great acting. Have a great day!
Sorry for another comment but I love the costume design in this film because in the final fight it doesn’t follow common themes of dressing our ‘hero’ in a lighter colour or white and the ‘villain’ in a darker colour or black.
This film is always a great react. Quintus to me is a fascinating character, because he betrays Maximus at the beginning, by 'just following orders', but at the end, he is the one who really seals the emperor's fate, by telling the Praetorians to sheathe their swords and not help the emperor.
By then he figured if Commadus succeeded in killing Maximus that he would himself be next He was the leader of the Praetorian guard after all an they killed more Emperors than anyone
I think at the beginning he's the prototypical general who believes in the sanctity of hierarchy, even if it clashes with his beliefs (he's clearly reluctant to order Maximus' execution and there's an extra scene where he's sadly forced to order the execution of his own men). But he become slowly disillusioned over time until he sees Commodus blatantly cheat to win at the end - and that's the final straw. Seeing his liege be honorless and pathetic snaps his automatic loyalty.
11:45 Yes, it does. If the wound is necrotic, maggots will only eat the dead flesh. This will speed up the healing process. This is still used in modern medicine on bad healing wounds. Although, I have no idea if this was known/practised in the classical antiquity.
Ridley Scott directed the original _Alien_ . It was James Cameron who wrote and directed the sequel _Aliens_ . Those are a couple of top-shelf filmmakers right there.
The film is not based on actual events. Marcus Aurelius's son really was Commodus, but he trusted him and made him his lieutenant for many years before he died. Commodus doesn't have a good reputation as an emperor, but some of that is a contrast to the almost saintly man he followed. Interestingly, this *is* based on another film: The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), with Alec Guiness as Marcus Aurelius and Christopher Plummer as Commodus.
Absolutely phenomenal movie, one of the best films. Beautifully put together, the emotion the actors put into their characters, the story, the way it has you on the edge of your seat waiting for Joaguin's character to die. Glad you enjoyed it, such a legendary film!
Another great reaction to an epic movie by Jen, love her balance of intellectual and emotional commitment, always a pleasure to watch, I'm leaning more and more towards her Patreon channel, keep up the good work, kind regards from Montreal!
I was curious if you'd pick up on one of the melodies and structure of that battle music in Gladiator was also used in a piece for Pirates since I guess Zimmer just really liked that melody and figured it fit both epic battle and epic daredevil stuns and escapes pretty well. Good memory on the ears! Plus yes, maggots will "clean" a wound. They'll eat through dead flesh easy enough but won't find it as easy to get through the living flesh. So while bacterial issues are still going to be there maggots proved a pretty useful way in the past to empty out a festering wound and get rid of everything but living, healable flesh.
Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven (Director's Cut only) is another great historic epic. Master & Commander with Russell Crowe is a great historic movie as well.
Random fun fact: gladio is Latin for sword, so a gladiator is literally a swordsman. Another one: man hole covers in Rome say "SPQR" which stands for "Senatus PopulusQue Romanus”, which means the Senate and the People of Rome. *I was a dork who took 3 years of Latin at my Catholic high school... this movie came out my sophomore year of college.
To answer your question about maggots cleaning wounds. They do clean the wounds. They eat the necrotic (dead)sloughy and/or infected tissue. Maggots can also be used to maintain a clean wound after debridement if a particular wound is considered prone to re-sloughing. Even today in certain circumstances specially grown wound cleaning maggots are used in modern medicine.
Jen "stab him in the face " lol me " put that on a Jen Merc t-shirt" EPIC sums this movie up I saw it on the big screen popcorn in hand and it was amazing . Ngl his family dying scene got to me to Jen you held it together well tears yes but for a Moment I thought you were going to go into uncontrollable breakdown 😢🫂 , I imagine everything has been covered in the comments so I will just say thankyou Jen for a truly wonderful reaction super emotional but fantastic 💜
Another great reaction...thank you! This movie always gets to me. This movie won 5 Oscar (Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Russell Crowe), Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Effects, Visual Effects) and was also nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Joaquin Phoenix), Best Director, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Music - Original Score, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration. So 12 Oscar nominations and 5 wins. It was also nominated for 14 BAFTA awards and won 4 and some others. Now that you've seen Gladiator, I feel you need to react to Braveheart. It's the other big box office movie of the time... well I always remember them together though Braveheart came out 5 years earlier. They are both similar type movies but completely different at the same time. And I think you will LOVE Braveheart!
The reason the troops who were supposed to execute Maximus at the beginning weren't loyal to Maximus is because they were Praetorian Guards, denoted by their purple uniforms. Praetorians were the elite guard of the Emperor himself (the position not the man), not Maximus's soldiers. Historically they were at many points very corrupt. If I recall correctly they ended up killing at least one emperor themselves. Also, that first fight wasn't meant to be fair, just seem more fair. Maximus's side may not have had the gear and were chained together, but they had advantage of numbers. Though still meant to favor the few. It was a tactic for preserving fight quality. If you always put the best fighters against the best fighters, they'd quickly kill each other off, leaving you with poor fighters and poor performances. If you make the fights look fairer, but putting large numbers of poor-quality ill-equiped slaves against a few good fighters, it looks fair to the crowd and you preserve the lives of good fighters, while killing off the weak, poor performing slaves. That's why the trader selling the slaves said "some are good for fighting, others for dying." They were essentially fodder for the meat grinder. It's also why Proximo protested the first fight in Rome. They essentially gave him a fight that he was meant to lose. They sitll did fair fights of good fighters against each other, just not every fight.
19:37 "They have chariots!! That's not friggin' fair!!" I love it! This one is hard to watch at times, and seeing Maximus' son run over by those horses still haunts me, but Maximus got his revenge, and he ended up showing Rome "something they've never seen before", after all. Great reaction to a great movie, Jen, as always! 😊❤
Oliver Reed, who played Proximo was a famous actor in the 60s and 70s, and was also a notorious alcoholic. He died from a heart attack in Malta while they were filming 'Gladiator' after an all-night drinking binge, and a few of his scenes had to be finished with CGI.
Today's UFC cage fighters and NFL football players regularly perform live before thousands of screaming fans and are often horribly injured. They are modern Gladiators so, no we haven't changed very much, have we? Very insightful reaction Jen. Excellent!
It was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, winning 5: Best Picture, Best Actor for Russell Crowe, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, and Best Costume Design. The ones it didn't win: Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Director for Ridley Scott, Art Direction, Cinematography, Film Editing and Original Score.
The little figurines were called the penates (home divinities, prayed at each home to protect family ). In French, an expression says : going back to one's penates, meaning going back home.
