ALTHOUGH HE BEAT ME TO IT…
I saw the movie Gladiator tonight. From the previews I had seen, I went into the movie not only expecting little, but on a fairly empty stomach, since I was not even able to step into my apartment upon arrival home before swooshing away to the theater.
After procuring and devouring my not-so-nourishing pretzel bites with Funacho cheese, I stepped into the auditorium and was transported to late second-century Rome and its provinces. Not only was the scenery very moving (except for the sky backdrops), but the dialogue brought out the picturesuq-ness of scenes not seen. Although none of the movie was historically accurate (Germania??), I was really placed into the environments.
Another plus is that the main character’s name was Maximus, which is the name I chose for myself in my seventh-grade Latin class. Speaking of names, that’s one thing I didn’t like about the movie. Of course they mention how Maximus is “The Greatest” at something-or-another, and in Proximo’s introduction, he proclaimed he would “always be near.” What’s up with the Latin puns?
One other thing about the movie that kind of bugged me. During a lot of the fight scenes, they used jump cuts to make the action look faster or more intense. All that did was make me dizzy.