Resurrecting Ridley Scott’s GLADIATOR

Just rewatched Ridley Scott’s Gladiator – I needed to do something to get the bad taste of Prometheus out of my mouth. It has held up quite well, considering that it is now twelve years-old. In fact, I enjoyed it more this time than I ever have, and even the CGI seems to have found a place in my heart.

Hans Zimmer’s score is decent, but a lot of themes sound too much like Pirates of The Caribbean for comfort. It was good at the time, but now the shadow of Jack Sparrow looms large. John Mathieson’s cinematgopraphy has a lot of interesting textures which help show Russell Crowes’ journey from Germania to Rome to the afterlife. Good stuff.

I’ve always been fascinated by Nick Cave’s potential sequel that was set to take place in the afterlife. It would have been a ballsy move and a hell of a direction to take a sequel. A shame that it never made it to screens.