DVDFile

DreamWorks Home Entertainment / 2000 / 171 Minutes / R
Street Date: August 23, 2005

Gladiator is a perfectly enjoyable and beautifully-made epic, serious, yet occasionally silly, grandiose, yet occasionally bloated. The film bemoans the use of barbarity as entertainment, yet it expects us to be entertained by the same barbarity. It's a muscular movie, which it will prove by pounding you over the head with itself. The characters are as somber and interesting as the chess pieces they represent. The script, by David Franzoni, William Nicholson and John Logan, is filled with lofty Romanesque platitudes that sound poetic, but ring with the falsities of pop psychology, dressed up for dinner. The film's popularity seemed unequal to its prospects for cinema immortality. But my theory on that is this: Younger audiences had never seen anything like Gladiator, even though Hollywood, in the '50s and '60s, cranked out Roman epics at the same rate that TV networks now crank out reality shows. Older audiences liked it because it was a throwback to films of a bygone era, and they liked feeling that their tastes weren't forever out of fashion. Many people took to the film on DVD, since the original DTS track was magnificent and the picture was gorgeous. A film so damn big became justification to write big checks to purchase big TV's and big speakers to create big home theater systems. And now, in honor of the fact that money can made doing such things, DreamWorks has released a bigger-than-big three-disc Extended Edition DVD, featuring a new cut that's 17-minutes longer than the theatrical cut.

Gladiator-heads will love the newly inserted material, although much of it was included as deleted scenes on the old DVD. The best cut footage is comprised of character business, as when Marcus prays to his ancestors before making a big decision and Commodus takes out his anger by defacing a bust of his father. There's nothing here that wasn't worth including, especially since you have the option of watching Ridley Scott's original cut, if you don't like the new stuff.

Any huzzahs heaped upon the film begin and end with Russell Crowe. Maybe the most commanding screen presence I've ever seen, Crowe sucks in much of the frame, yet there's still plenty of room for everyone else. When we meet his General Maximus, he's "unleashing hell" upon the Germanic army, in an epic ten-minute battle that begins the proceedings. His victory prompts an elderly and frail Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) to name Maximus his successor as emperor. This doesn't sit well with Aurelius' son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), who promptly offs his own father and assumes the emperor mantle. To his credit, Maximus didn't want to be emperor either, preferring to return home to his wife and child. Still, Commodus orders Maximus killed, but he escapes long enough to return home and find his family murdered. Eventually, he becomes a slave in the employ of Promixo (Oliver Reed, who died during filming). Upon his return to Rome as a slave, Maximus is forced to fight in the Coliseum, where Commodus is surprised to find the man whose death he ordered conquering the crowd with his bravery and battle prowess. Later, Maximus, with the help of the emperor's sister Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), hatch a dangerous plan to use Maximus' popularity in the arena games as the spark that will overthrow the emperor.

From a visual standpoint, Gladiator cannot be faulted, save for the odd sub-par CGI shot. Costume design, production design, and weapons design are all incredibly rich in detail. This is no low-budget toga party. The supporting cast is beyond reproach, with the great Richard Harris and Oliver Reed both echoing back to the epics of their professional prime. Even without the scope-expanding CGI, the movie would look gigantic. Filmed in four countries, it's an expensive movie, but it's all on the screen, which is all you can ask for in a big-budget film. All that aside, Gladiator seemed expendable to me when it was over. Its heart seemed as artificial as the computer-generated troops. I realize I'm in the minority; the movie was nominated for twelve Oscars and won five, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Crowe. I also realize that my words of heresy won't stop anyone from loving the film. However, my complaint is now duly registered; Gladiator is a magnificent ship too big to steer and hollow inside.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

This looks like the same 2.35:1 that was included on the previous disc. And really, there's no reason to crank out a new transfer, since it's hard to improve on the old one. A pristine effort, it shows amazing brightness and clarity. Detail is near reference quality and pixilation is non-existent (and there's plenty of opportunity to see pixilation, with all that dust and dirt floating around the frame). The movie begins with a smooth bluish tint that slowly gives way to bright hues. The former shows nice depth and stability, always showing good contrast and never giving in to the darker shadings of the frame. The latter is almost three-dimensional in its brightness. The color palette is wide as can be, from desaturated reds to very bright whites to dark blacks. Contrast is fantastic and doesn't seem artificially pushed. I did reverse scan a couple of times to see whether I spotted any edge halos. Maybe a tad, but they're insignificant. Blacks are dark and confident and shadow detail is great. The transfer is also grain-free, dirt-free, and scratch-free. It's a fabulous transfer, and the scenes added for the extended edition look just as good.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

Controversy! The original Gladiator DVD contained one of the all-time great DTS tracks. Reference quality all the way, it was routinely cranked up at the local Best Buy and at the homes of those wanting to show off. But while there's enough room on these discs for photographs of every cockroach that climbed on the edit bay walls, there's no room for the old DTS track. It's quite a disappointment. So we're left with the Dolby Digital 5.1 track, which is, let's not forget, excellent. It's very immersive, with atmosphere to spare. The soundscape is wide and vivid with deep bass that never gets muddy. Dialogue is clean and mostly coming from the center. There's plenty of crowd noise from the sides and from behind, but it's properly mixed to not show off. The effects work, from the horses galloping to the swords clanging, sounds clear, aggressive and filled with detail. The battle scenes will blow you away. Hans Zimmer's score goes from gentle to bombastic and back again. And the mix is up to the task. The rears are constantly engaged and they really help drawn you into the film. It's a great mix. Maybe not as great as the DTS, but great nonetheless.

English, French, and Spanish subtitles are also included.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Clear your calendar for about a week to view every single frame of this exhaustive Extended Edition. Three discs of gladiatorial goodness await the hearty souls who need to know everything about the making of the movie. Frankly, I could have done without 10% of this material, but who am I to deny the viewing public the 8,467th storyboard?

Disc one contains a brand new audio commentary from Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe, which can only mean one thing: they each get a piece of all DVD sales. The commentary is only available on the Extended Edition. The regular edition features no commentary. And you've got to give them credit, because they talk up a storm for the entire 171 minutes of the film. Ridley, probably smoking a cigar at one point or another, delves into production issues, while Crowe reminisces about how cold it was on location or a particular shot or actor he liked. It's a nice chat between two professionals reliving a very difficult shoot. This Extended Edition also includes a brief clip of Ridley Scott introducing the new work. Interestingly, he seems to be distancing himself from this DVD cut, admitting that this version is not his version.

Are You Not Entertained is a trivia track that throws out 171 minutes worth of tidbits on the making of the film and some historical background of Roman times. Learn about all the other films that were shot in Morocco including Lawrence of Arabia and Spy Game, directed by Ridley's brother, Tony. (You'll even learn that Morocco's economy is based on agriculture, tourism, and phosphate rock mining.) There's a great breadth of information covered here, making it the best text trivia track I've seen.

Finally, on disc one, Deleted Scene Index allows you to jump right to any of the 13 deleted scenes that make up the extended edition.

Disc two contains the mother of all documentaries, a 3 hour and 20 minute monstrosity called Strength and Honor: The Creating the World of Gladiator. Suffice it to say, it's easily the definitive Gladiator documentary and the best DVD documentary of the year. Director Charles de Lauzirika deserves much praise for putting it together, but damn if I'm gonna sit through it again. The doc is split into seven chapters. They are:

"Tales of the Scribes": Gladiator was initiated by writer David Franzoni (Amistad), who read the book Those About to Die during his post-college years. He never forgot about it, and years later brought the idea to producer Douglas Wick. Wick brings up a thematic element that never came across in the film. He says that the games of the Roman Coliseum were entertainment meant to distract the populace from more serious issues of the day, a concept analogous to the modern day. Had this been brought out in the film, I may have enjoyed it more. Anyway, this chapter is 34 minutes and, like all the chapter to come, features great behind the scenes action and on-set interviews with all the principles.

"The Tools of War": For thirteen minutes, we learn about the weapons used during Roman times and how they were recreated for the movie. As Supervising Armorer Simon Atherton explains, the weapons back then were brutal, since they were meant to inflict quick, painful, merciless death. The piece gets into the creation of the bows, arrows, spears, and the other death-bringing paraphernalia.

"Attire of the Ring": The costuming takes center stage for twenty minutes in this chapter, which will enthrall those with an interest in such fare. The "spirit of authenticity" was the goal here, according to Wick. The challenge was not only to clothe everyone, but not make the movie look like a big toga party. Janty Yates, the costume designer, is the star here.

"The Heat of Battle - Production Battle": This is the biggest chunk of the documentary and this chapter alone would have been impressive enough. As thoroughly explained, the producers wanted to shoot near London for the modern amenities and decent food that would satisfy the crew. Amazingly, they found a forest outside of London that was about to be deforested. So whatever the English equivalent of our Department of the Interior is, they were thrilled to have production cut down trees and burn down other trees. The whole Roman army was made of unemployed people and students willing to work for about $30 a day. This is the second best part of a great documentary, because the best part is . . .

"Resurrecting Proximo": During the production of Gladitor , actor Oliver Reed passed away. Douglas Wick and director Ridley Scott discuss the hiring of Reed and how they were able to finish his scenes, which were not complete at the time of his death. There is an interview with Reed conducted on set, which makes it one of last interviews he ever gave. He talks about auditioning for Ridley Scott, something an actor of Reed's stature hadn't done in decades. This is the most interesting chapter of the doc, since it involves something other than production minutia. Watch "The Heat of Battle" and "Resurrecting Proximol" and you'll get the best of this documentary.

"The Glory of Rome - Visual Effects": Although there were massive sets built for the film, CGI imagery helped inflate the visuals to epic proportions. Some of the shots here will be familiar for those who owned the previous disc or saw any number of TV shows that covered the movie during its initial theatrical run. It's a good twenty minutes, but in the context of the entire piece, it feels repetitive.

"Echoes in Eternity - Release and Impact": This final chapter charts the reaction to the movie from audiences and the filmmakers. Everyone does the usual "we had no idea it would be so big" routine. Wick talks about the first test screening, which women liked as much as men, a good sign. Ridley Scott and actress Connie Nielsen discuss cut scenes that have been reinserted into this cut.

Next we have a third disc that chronicles the making of the second disc. That's not true. Disc three tempts overkill, but there is some good stuff within.

Image and Design is broken up into the following submenus:

"Production Design" includes a ten-minute interview with production designer Arthur Max, who discusses the scope of his difficult assignment. Also under the "Production Design" submenu is a "Production Design Gallery" covering Germania, Rome, Zucchabar and conceptual art of the Colosseum. "Storyboarding" contains a storyboard demonstration, a multi-angle comparison and an archive. There's also a "Costume Design Gallery" and a very nice "Photo Gallery."

Supplemental Archive is further broken down into the following:

"Abandoned Sequences & Deleted Scenes" starts with an alternate title design created by Nick Livesey. It was dropped for time and replaced with more traditional titles. Here, Livesay has his say and you can also view his discarded titles. Extra footage includes Blood Vision, storyboards for a Rhino Fight (dropped because a rhino couldn't be adequately trained) and Choose Your Weapon. "VFX Explorations: Germania and Rome" is 24-minutes of additional material covering the computer generated and computer aided effects that helped bring the Germania and Colosseum scenes to life. Much of this consists of computer artists sitting at their computer and moving around pixels and cursors. At this point, my eyes were glazing over.

Trailers and TV Spots contains the Theatrical Teaser, the Theatrical Trailer, some TV Spots, and previews of other DreamWorks product.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.

Final Thoughts

Despite this Extended Edition's overwhelming quality, those who covet one of the best DTS tracks ever recorded should stay with the original DVD release. Those without DTS capabilities should upgrade: the three and a half hour documentary and extended version are worth it. Gladiator may be one of the worst films to win a Best Picture Oscar, but it's been given fantastic special edition treatment.