Gladiator--This is Russell Crowe

I knew Russell Crowe first from " A Beautiful Mind". I watched it three times to fully appreciate how fatally attractive he is. I know he is handsome at first sight, although it did take me a long time before I accepted that "Jennifer Connelly is a beauty."


Then I watched " Cinderella Man". Russell does not simply act. He is virtually talking with his eyes. There's something characteristic about the way he speaks, although I don't think I can really describe it. His pronuciation sounds casual, but always brings the character out of him. When I watch him in a movie, I never feel it's Russell Crowe playing. I'd say "this character is so like Russell Crowe". He owns every character he plays. They are different, yet similar in some fundemental ways.


He starred in "Proof of Life" with Meg Ryan. I love the movie, especially the last scene, when he told Meg softly," You've got a plane to catch". His eyes was enough to reveal his inner and restrained passion for Meg, not to mention how uniquely his voice emphasized the emotion. But in real life they didn't get together. Although Meg Ryan abandoned her family for Russell, things didn't really work out.


The Gladiator got him his Oscar Best Actor Award. Maximus, once a general in Rome and appointed by Caesar Marcus Aurelius as his successor, was persecuted by Caesar Commodus Aurelius--son of Marcus Aurelius, his wife and son burned and nailed. Later he became a slave and then a gladiator, who made his way to Colosseum and killed the new emperor there.


An epic of a hero, a real commander, whose charisma, even after having become a slave, never faded. It was an impressive scene when he commanded the other gladiators and defeated the people in gold armours ( I didn't really get what they were). He acted as if he was back on battleground again. It made no difference whether he was a slave or a general, as he always was a hero. Strength and honor were what he represented. Wisdom, justice, fortitude, temperance, he owned them all. It was never easy to be a hero, however. A hero's life was full of blood and struggle, when all Maximus ever wanted was just family and love.

In the end, when he finally closed his eyes, he returned to his beloved family, in the afterlife.


The supporting characters are also great. On that night when Maximus attempted to escape, Proximo, who hated Caesar Marcus Aurelius for keeping him away from the Colosseum, decided to sacrifice himself to help Maximus. He had always thought himself as shadow and dust. But the determination he had shown proved himself a hero,too. All other gladiators fought hard against the army which was coming for Maximus. Cicero, the faithful follower, and Maximus's army, were all so loyal to Maximus that they could overthrow their new commmander at any time just at Maximus's order. What are these people then? Heroes, with strengh and honor! They proved to the audience that Rome was, afterall, not a empire of mobs (although it did strike me when all the audience cheered as people were being killed. They saw killing as a form of entertainment.) They were the very reason why Rome grew so strong (I hope i've made less historical errors than grammatical errors)


I don't love him less because he got fat. I love him because he is Russell Crowe.

Ewan McGregor in "Angels and Demons"

没看过这本书，所以还是相对放心的去看电影了。经验告诉我，从小说改编过来的电影百分之99会被骂。大部分书迷都要求电影完全的忠实原著。但是电影就是电影，一种不同的艺术表现手法。所以一般看过书的人再看电影就会有浪费钱的感觉。幸好我完全是冲着演员去的。


基本上那个女的就是花瓶。没什么用。没什么可以发挥的戏份，当然也看不出此人演技究竟如何。而Tom Hanks，第二次做教授，没什么新意了，当然影帝还是影帝，除了身材够呛以外，整部电影挑不出毛病啊。在图书馆里砸玻璃那场戏挺惊险的。我总是感觉他下一秒就要晕倒了，不过“主角不死定论“告诉我希望就在不远处。结果，玻璃碎了。


最让人惊艳的莫过于Ewan McGregor的the Camerlengo。我在某张海报上看到他的时候就被他的牧师服电到了。真是人长得有型穿什么帅啊。他刚一出场我又被他完美的音色给吸引了。真的是太太太好听了。想当年我刚看完红磨坊的时候，不敢相信那些歌就是他唱的。为什么除了Nick Carter外还有一个人长得如此潇洒音色如此迷人？有那么半年，我每天都会听"Come what may" 和"Your song"。他的声音已经印在我脑海里了。


跑题了。Anyway，这个魅力男声整场戏90%的时间里都看着非常innocent。虽然我一次看见他就凭着我多年看电影的直觉判断出此人会是头号或二号反派人物，但当他正义凛然而有条不紊地告诉密室里的红衣主教们为什么要evacuate时，我觉得他身上充满了一个Pope该有的领袖气质和 insight。于是我的第一个猜测（这个人是Illuminati的卧底）不成立。


然后这个Camerlengo不断帮助Robert Langdon，并且一有机会就给一场关于为什么science 和religion都重要的speech，并且不断承认Catholic Church曾经对Illuminati的屠杀行为是错的。而且他长得太正义了，声音太好听了，眼神太无辜了。每次他被那个老主教以权势欺压时，我是气不打一处来啊。你说这么爱国家爱社会爱宗教的好少年（而且还这么帅）你去哪里找得到啊？还怪人家越权。人家可是句句在理啊。我唯一的感觉就是，Ewan McGregor在这部戏里对自己religion的热爱，丝毫不亚于他在moulin rouge对satine的热爱。虽然religion和人是不能比的，但是他的狂热，他的崇敬以及他不顾一切的追求，都是看得到的。


整部戏的高潮，产生于当the Camerlengo知道antimatter的电池不够时间被拆除而直接捧着它进入直升飞机里。（我在片头就很惊讶，Dan Brown这个人也太博学了，又懂religion又懂symbols连LHC,antimatter都略知一二）本来在前面那段，我就已经看出来他是故意受伤的。一切都太巧合了。Langdon刚刚闯进去，就看见了那么明显的一幕？而且the Camerlengo还没死？那个Swiss Guard的头头开始还完全一副还不在状态的表情，幸好他头脑转的快，那把钥匙说明这故事还有下文。


但是当the Camerlengo进直升飞机的时候我还是泪如泉涌啊。真的太正义了。黑色的牧师服，随时愿意牺牲的坚毅的表情(我觉得这个表情是真的，他也不知道自己活不活得下去），那个一切为了自己的信仰的英雄，就这么出现了又要这么走了。我当时真的希望他别跳下来就这么牺牲好了。要不等大家都知道真相时他会更惨。


最后悲惨的事情还是发生了。一切水落石出了。他在幕后策划了一切，是为了捍卫自己的信仰，但却用了不正当的手段。我想当他走进密室时心情是激动的，应该已经预测到了点什么。影片的这个插曲也许想表现一下他的ambition吧，但是交代得很模糊。当他走进密室面对众人时，他又很聪明，马上就意识到了the situation is out of control already。这段拍得很好。他没有像traditional Chinese drama里那样临死前还要做困兽之斗，或为自己辩解，或掏出一把手枪扫射。他腿受伤了，转身依然潇洒。他的紧张表现在愈行愉快的步伐中。我觉得他是在路上想到了最好的结局，自焚。最后他是个亡命之徒，不过不是歇斯底里型的。


其实影片很多地方交代得不很清楚。如果 the Camerlengo这么执迷于自己的信仰，为什么会牺牲与他同信仰的主教？如果这件事是他一手策划，他和那个绑架者的关系是什么？为什么那个绑架者说“ 他们没叫我杀你们“，而不是“他“？绑架者的身份是什么？而且，如果他这么疯狂，那么比起他极端的作案手法，他投降的太快了，快得让人觉得他知道自己是错的，which is not shown anywhere。


但是就Ewan McGregor而言，这是又一部佳作。他的表现丝毫不亚于Tom Hanks。他把这个人的伟大的那部分思想演出来了，并且赚了眼泪。而他在摄像头里露出本性的那段表演来得很自然。动作，语言，表情的衔接无可挑剔，太 convincing了。而剧本的问题，就忽视吧。