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Originally Posted by Cimarron29414
Okay, so here is my beef with Gladiator. Crowe's portrayal lacked depth, creativity, passion. Any one of the Hollywood pretty boys could have played that part just as well. Now, I am no George Clooney fan, but his acting in O' Brother was incredible!That part was so out of his box and required so much skill that he overwhelmingly deserved the Oscar over "Crowe in a loin cloth." O' Brother was released the same year. Clooney won the SAG Best Actor award for it.
So, I've confessed. I simply can't forgive Hollywood for this oversight, and I project this anger onto Gladiator.  |
Initially, I thought you were arguing that Clooney would have been better in Gladiator than Crowe. That would have been a nightmare! Clooney was hilarious in O' Brother. He was great in Out of Sight. I don't think he is very good in roles that require him to be "darker". Batman and Robin (or was it Batman forever), for example. He was awful.1
I liked Crowe in Gladiator. I like Crowe in nearly everything he does (The Insider, A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander, etc). I think he's a good actor. (Though he would have been awful in Clooney's O' Brother role).
I did not like Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator - a scenery chewing performance. I have liked him in other films.
I don't think that epics are dying. There always seem to be a few a year. I also do not think that the quality of motion pictures has declined steadily over the years. So many awful movies have been made over the years. Only the decent ones survive to be seen today. This gives the perception that movies were once of higher quality.
Also, epics that I have enjoyed:
Captain Blood
Dr. Zhivago
Lawrence of Arabia
I'm sure there have been others.