Watch This offers movie recommendations inspired by new releases, premieres, current events, or occasionally just our own inscrutable whims. This week: With Cruella coming to theaters and Disney+, we’re looking at some of our favorite extravagant and over-the-top villains from film history.
Gladiator (2000)
Joaquin Phoenix has been one of our finest actors for so long now that it can be hard to remember how he started out: very much in the shadow of his beloved older brother. River Phoenix was supposed to be the one who’d win Oscars and play iconic roles; Spielberg had cast him as the young Indiana Jones, and his work in films ranging from Stand By Me to My Own Private Idaho had pretty much cornered the market on adolescent sensitivity. Joaquin—billed as Leaf Phoenix when he was a child—quit the business altogether around 1989, reportedly in frustration that he wasn’t being offered the same quality of roles. When he re-emerged in 1995, two years after River’s death from a drug overdose (which Joaquin witnessed, horribly), it was with both a new name and a new, considerably darker image. A teen murderer for hire in To Die For. A belligerent small-town asshole in U Turn. A sleazy conduit to the world of snuff films in 8mm. River’s characters had always come across as likeable and fundamentally decent; rather than make a likely futile attempt to compete with that painful memory, Joaquin opted to push hard in the opposite direction.
The gambit paid off handsomely with Gladiator, which nabbed him his first Oscar nomination. The role itself—Commodus, son of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius—is pure evil, and only loosely based on history. Commodus murders his father (Richard Harris) to gain power, orders the death of war hero Maximus (Russell Crowe) in order to circumvent any possible challenge to his rule, puts the moves on his own sister (Connie Nielsen), and plots to disband the Roman Senate so as to enjoy life as a despot. Phoenix’s innovation was to make this monster so deeply pathetic that it’s often hard to decide between hissing at him or laughing at him. If Maximus is the ultimate badass, Commodus is the quintessential wuss. Listing his virtues to his father, he includes courage, then sheepishly concedes, “Perhaps not on the battlefield, but there are many kinds of courage.” The subsequent murder sees Commodus—after complaining that daddy never hugged him—squeeze the life out of his father while sobbing into his shoulder, combining brutality with vulnerability in a uniquely discomfiting way.
That moment sets the tone for a gloriously mannered performance that raises angry sniveling to an art form. “Over the top” generally suggests acting that’s brash or loud or otherwise aggressive; Phoenix, by contrast, yells only once in Gladiator’s two-and-a-half hours, bellowing “Am I not merciful?!?” at his sister after he declines to immediately kill her despite having learned that she’s been scheming with Maximus behind his back. His petulant snit fits, however, make Gladiator a lot more fun than the stolid mid-century sword-and-sandal epics to which it was a throwback (while nicely counterbalancing Crowe’s conventional charisma). Anybody can crank up the decibels and pop a vein or two; wringing comedic pathos from a line like “He shouldn’t be alive. It vexes me. I’m terribly vexed” while maintaining the film’s dramatic integrity is a trickier proposition. Phoenix’s most indelible impotence follows a Colosseum exhibition at which Commodus orders the death of a defeated gladiator (at the crowd’s urging), turning his thumb down, only to be defied by Maximus, who spares the man’s life. “And now they love Maximus for his mercy,” he whines to an advisor afterward. “So I can’t just kill him or it makes me even more unmerciful.” It’s almost impossible to imagine River Phoenix, gifted though he was, playing someone so simultaneously malevolent and incompetent. The same is true of virtually every role Joaquin Phoenix has taken on since. He’s forged his own path.
Availability: Gladiator is available to rent or purchase digitally from Apple, Amazon, YouTube, VUDU, Redbox, DirecTV, and AMC On Demand.
63 Comments
I know I’m in the minority here, but this is the only movie I can stand Joaquin Phoenix in. He’s just too fucking weird and creepy for me. All I see is weird/creepy Joaquin Phoenix instead of whatever character he’s supposed to be playing.
He’s the villain, so doesn’t weird & creepy work for that?
Normally, yes. In his case, no, because all I see is this creep on screen and it really takes me out of the movie.When it comes to Gladiator, I saw the movie when I was fairly young, and had no idea who he was. I’m fairly certain that’s the only reason why I can stand him in it.
I’m the opposite — I think he’s generally good as an oddball in contemporary roles, but in Gladiator he’s just too koooky. The movie never convinced me why he didn’t get thrown aside with less effort than Zhukov and Khruschev teaming up to take out Beria in The Death of Stalin.There was a fair amount of blather about the loyalty of his guards and so on, but I felt like the movie never made a compelling case why anyone would lift a finger to protect such a weasel.
I felt like the movie never made a compelling case why anyone would lift a finger to protect such a weasel.I was under the impression they only protected him because he was emperor. In the final fight, they have the opportunity to help him, and they don’t because they finally have a legitimate reason to get rid of him in a public setting.
I found Phoenix to be distractingly overacting in this role, the worst part of the film for me. Endless rewatches on cable have only reinforced that feeling for me.
Same here. I find him over the top in this and will never be able to remove the sight of him flicking his tongue from my memory.
To be honest, I find him to be distractingly overacting in almost everything. He’s a bit like Sean Penn in that regard.
Every single emperor of Rome was a weasel. For those guards, it’s just another day at work.
Another day, another tyrant.
*finishes coffee, straps on helmet*
It might make more sense in a monarchy… which the Roman empire “officially” wasn’t.
its impossible to really tell, since they changed most of how romes power structure worked, but usually roman armies followed emperors either because they were commanders or because they were rich. commodus certainly had money to go around in the movie
I figure despots like him remain in power because everyone is afraid of who would replace him (or the chaos his removal would cause.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_cult_of_ancient_Rome
And yet I think he’s a little too over-the-top in this.
You might be right, but that’s better than the alternative.
Creepy Johnny Cash?
Didn’t bother watching it.
Ha, too late, I’ve seen it.
It’s really incredible that they were able to so seamlessly finish the film after Oliver Reed’s death. I never would have known it was an issue.
Knowing that the actor died during filming might explain why his character’s screen death seems so abrupt. Almost like they didn’t have enough footage to do otherwise.
And what a way to die… Roaring drunk and arm wrestling Maltese sailors!
Once you know he died during filming, you can kinda see the seams where a few shots of him were re-used in different scenes (with different lighting and a very out-of-focus background to hide the changes). But yeah, if you weren’t already aware of it and actively looking for it, it’s completely unnoticeable.
Yeah, when he says his final words before getting killed (“feathers and dust”), you can clearly see they used an alternate take from the Coliseum.
Pretty sure the line is “shadows and dust”, but I like yours better. Makes it sound like they have to fight a big chicken.
He says both. It’s “shadows and dust” in the Coliseum scene, and “feathers and dust” in his death scene. I may have them backwards.
That may have been a translation error. I dimly recall watching part of Gladiator on a muted tv in a bar once and seeing Oliver Reed look to Maximus and deliver the defining final screen words of “Smashmouth or bust, Maximus! Smashmouth or bust…”.
All-Star was pretty ubiquitous back then, it wouldn’t surprise me.
I take this back. Mandela effect on my part.
Nothing like a good ol’ Roman pillow fight.
“Shadows and dust” but yes.
Shadows and Dust I believe, but your point is still valid/well taken.
I thougt it was obvious but not terrible considering the circumstances. You know what it was way better than? Carrie Fisher in The Rise of Skywalker. In that case it wasn’t so much blending with special effects but the dialogue did not match no matter what she said. “Never trust a droid.” or “Always trust a droid” I can remeber which she said and I’m too lazy to look it up. It doesn’t matter anyway because it barely made sense.
True, but hardly a fair comparison. Oliver Reed completed something like 90% of the movie before he died, in Rise of Skywalker they were trying to patch together a complete movie out of random audio clips and alternate takes. It was more like those post-mortem “Bruce Lee” movies made from random film clips and extras.
Though, seriously, they could’ve done something to make it a little less screamingly obvious that they were patching together snippets of random dialogue and pasted in close-ups.
Hey, I liked No Retreat, No Surrender!
Do something better? How about the obvious. Have her crashing the ship into the First Order flagship. Soooo easy, an honorable death. I kind of think Carrie Fischer would have preferred Leia get some batshit crazy death like a suicide mission into the enemy flagship.
There was discussion about green-screening Tig Notaro into his role for better continuity …
Oliver Reed died, then returned to finish the film before burial. This is the only explanation I can accept.
I had no idea about that. Then, reading up on what happened…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Reed#Death…damn, what a way to go. Out-drinking a bunch of limeys on shore leave in Malta.
“(while nicely counterbalancing Crowe’s conventional charisma)“Very good point. I think Crowe is very good in this, it’s just not as good as he can be and that’s down to the character. There’s a ceiling on the “Good, loyal and sad” dude he has to play so having Phoenix be such a shit lets the audience get hyped up about seeing him go down, preferably in the nastiest way possible, while maintaining Crowe’s righteousness.
It kind of takes me out of the movie when Crowe stops being a gladiator 45 minutes in and won’t start acting again until they let his blues band do a set.
Didn’t they open for Biggus Dickus at The Coliseum?
I always thought Crowe was an interesting choice for this part. He wasn’t really a leading man before Gladiator and he came across as more of a normal human who happens to be a great general as opposed to the chiseled jaw “Kirk Douglas in Spartacus” type.
The central conflict of the film is that everyone is loyal to Maximus over Commodus. A chiseled physical specimen who is just some otherworldly fighter doesn’t necessarily fit into that; I think Crowe really sells Maximus’ quiet charisma so that you buy the fact that everyone buys in to Maximus, from Marcus Aurelius to the gladiators on his team in the Coliseum.
Exactly, Maximus is just a guy doing his duty to his Emperor (and father figure). He’s not a “warrior”, he’s a farmer who happens to be very good at waging war, but takes no particular joy in it.
Stick somebody like Chris Evans in peak Captain America condition in that role and it doesn’t land the same way. No matter how good Chris Evans can be, the dude is entirely too pretty and chiseled to land as “normal guy looking to get back to his wife and kid.”
Crowe, however, looks like a guy who’s strong, but not bodybuilder ripped. He’s soft-spoken whenever he’s not commanding troops (or reading the riot act to spectators “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!!”)He’s got a ton of charisma, but it’s quieter than the megawatt superstar charisma. Plus, he went full-on snotty ugly-crying at the whole “discovering his murdered wife and child” scene.
Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this world or the next.Crowe sold the shit out of those lines. Great movie.
I watched this in a cinema with around 600 other people in the Bay Area opening weekend. Back when you had to stand in line to get a good seat.JP played his part perfectly. Half the audience would laugh at his sniveling, and there was some active hissing at parts of his performance.That was a deserved nomination.
Let’s not forgot Jack Gleeson’s performance of Joffrey on Game of Thrones was inspired by Phoenix’s Commodus. They’re practically identical in mannerisms.
extravagant and over-the-top villains ought to mean we’ll be seeing Frank N. Furter up in this jawn. Unless he’s considered an anti-hero – then we should get some Riff here. The only movie named Gladiator I’ve seen stars James Marshall and Cuba Gooding Jr.
https://tenor.com/view/rocky-horror-picture-show-rhps-rocky-horror-tim-curry-frank-n-furter-gif-4424354
The only part that didn’t work for me was the final battle. There was no tension, as it was so obvious that Commodus would just take him to pieces without breaking a sweat.
I enjoyed this movie when I first saw it, but I would say some of it hasn’t aged well. I dunno. JP was a little too over-the-top, and Crowe ran the gamut of emotions from A to B. I didn’t like that they just made Commodus a default Caligula. If salacious imperial gossip- er, historical sources are to be believed, the movie downplayed the Emperor’s obsession with the games. I think seeing Commodus engage in gladitorial combat against foes in a fixed match or two, even briefly while some senators looked on with disapproval, would’ve been more interesting than Commodus putting the moves on his sister, but that’s just my opinion. I normally don’t mind historical liberties for the sake of sword-and-sandal movies, but the idea that the Republic was restored after Commodus’ death was hilarious (what followed instead was a member of the Praetorian guard becoming Emperor, then after his assassination for refusing to pay those pesky Praetorians, the friggin’ throne was auctioned off and purchased by a senator, and etcetera, etcetera).The things I do still like: Reed’s last performance, the soundtrack (I love that “Now We Are Free” song), the combat scenes (good cinematography, I’ll give it that) and the fact that BRIAN BLESSED was hired solely to boom “MAXIMUS THE MERCIFUL!” (though sadly, not “IS THERE ANYONE IN ROME WHO HAS NOT SLEPT WITH MY DAUGHTER?!”). Oh, and Derek Jacobi. I was just glad to see him.
I think seeing Commodus engage in gladitorial combat against foes in a fixed match or two, even briefly while some senators looked on with disapproval, would’ve been more interesting than Commodus putting the moves on his sisterThey did kind of shorthand that with his “training against five guys” at the beginning of the movie. Though you’re right, it would’ve been a good idea to have a whole “Putin plays hockey with the Russian national team and scores 8 goals” gladiatorial bit where Commodus “defeats” a bunch of trained gladiators.
Also, one of the things it’s easy to forget in a post-LOTR CGI world, that opening battle was fucking astounding when that movie came out. As was the sheer scale of the coliseum.
Opinions- Joaquin Phoenix nailed the kind of evil guy that you would find in a 50s-60s biblical Hollywood movie. – Some of his best scenes were deleted anyway- Has “The Fall of the Roman Empire” been discussed in this site? The beginning, shot during one of the harshest Spanish winters in the Sierra de Guadarrama, is more Game of Thrones than the entire Game of Thrones.
Some of his best scenes were deleted anywayOmg yes! Like his punishment of the men who failed to tell him Maximus was still alive. It’s a great beat how long he makes the archers hold, and it establishes that Commodus and his leading Head Commander (who later tells his men to sheath their swords, and not help in the final fight) do not see eye to to eye.
This and Rollerball (the original) are two films which have a lot more arena-action in my memory than they actually contain.
I enjoyed this movie when it came out, but I was shocked (and annoyed) when it started winning all the awards, as I thought it was a pretty standard “swords and sandals” potboiler, and that every other nominee was better(Chocolat, Traffic, Erin Brockovich, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).
Haven’t seen Chocolat, but I’d take Gladiator over both Traffic and Erin Brockovich for sure. Crouching Tiger is one nominee I would would say was truly better, and for me that was the two picture race. Love em both. But at least as far as the Academy goes, Gladiator didn’t really get all that much, compared to more dominant winners, but I think it got what it deserved (sound, VFX, costume, actors) as did CTHD, (art direction, cinematography, score, foriegn) Traffic (Director, Screenplay) and Brockovich (actress).
Saying Chocolat was better is just silly. Gladiator is a bit more blockbustery than your usual best picture winner, but it’s one of the very few winners from the past two decades that I will actually watch if it’s on television.
It’s nothing that hadn’t already been done better in Spartacus or Braveheart.
Certain Gen X men I know LOVE this movie. I am not one of them.
I love how he delivers his line when he uncovers his sister-wife’s plot: “Tell me what you’ve been doing, you…busy little bee”. We quote it all the time in my household!
I saw this on the big screen this weekend for the first time since 2000 and it really holds up. A very rare modern incidence of good taste on the part of the Academy.