|
SUPER 8 FILM REVIEW
 For this reviewer Gladiator was the best film for years. “The Battle of Carthage” is one of many highlights from Ridley Scott’s epic. Entirely self contained with a censor card and United International Picture logo before we are taken straight into the gladiatorial arena, the Colloseum of Rome. This was a massive set built on the island of Malta. Not to its full height and circumference so the computer was pressed into action to fill in the missing bits. And unlike some of the less than impressive digital images of ancient Rome they did an outstanding job in achieving the illusion. The camera follows the lead characters around the whole of the arena and shows it as seen from their perspective. It is all there and does much to heighten the tension.
The late David Hemmings is the master of ceremonies (of course the other British greats Richard Harris and Oliver Reed appearing in this film have also passed on – thankfully Derek Jacobi is still with us) and he introduces the gladiators as “the Barbarian Horde” and then a second set on chariots as “the Legionnaires of Scipio”. The archers on these chariots are women. But be warned, they get butchered just the same. This is not a reel for the squeamish. Fantastic action though and beautifully put together. A big-screen treat.  A near perfect reel. Just a slight flaw in our review print with a bit of colour variation on the far right preventing higher marks. We expect general release prints will be sorted. Good stereo sound. Sharp imagery. Colour in Gladiator is rare as the film was founded around the Jean Leon Gerome 1872 painting “Pollice Verso” (“Thumbs Down”). Look at that picture and it is Gladiator. Apparently the Producer went along to ask Ridley Scott to direct and Scott was taken with the idea before the proposal was tabled. He saw the copy of “Police Verso” brought along and said “I could do that!” And what a massive undertaking that turned out to be. 25th May 2000. I’d told Keith Wilton I would be attending the Empire for the 13:00 showing and arrived to find him waiting outside waving the tickets at me. There’s no getting away from him sometimes. At the end of the screening when the last of the credits had rolled through he turned to me and said “Well that one sorts out the men from the boys!” I think he was absolutely right. First rate release. Now how about a second extract. I’d like a complete opening reel which would include the fabulous opening battle. What do others think? Print A Sound A
GLADIATOR (Extract 2 - The Battle For Germania)
 We requested it and somehow we’ve got it. This is the entire opening from probably the best film of recent times. It’s all here from the very first sequence until the end of the battle when Richard Harris makes a brief appearance to show his relief that the wars are finally over. Gladiator has many highlights and this is certainly one of them. Joined together with the previous imported extract it makes a fine long reel but doesn’t give much in the way of coherent plot. It would be nice for a further extract to appear linking the two in some way but I may be pushing it here. Still, you never know. Also, there are rumours that another distributor may be planning a full length Super 8 release – a mouth watering prospect but I’m a bit concerned at how many prints would be sold and whether there is really any viability to such a venture. However, if this does happen I’d personally take a part time job to get one! This extract available from Derann is in the ‘Scope format and comes with a front title and ‘The End’ at its finale. The print is, in my opinion, not quite as good as the previous extract but this is largely due to the nature of the extract. There is quite a bit of computer jiggery pokery which gives the image a flat look in places which seems to be generally inherent in digital special effects. I’d like to see the modern releases lightened up a bit as the lab does seem to be printing a bit darker than required but having said that it is still more than acceptable. Has the same introduction as the first extract; namely, the ‘Gladiator’ censor title card and the UIP logo. At the conclusion there is the same ‘The End’ caption. There is one overriding query from this sequence of the film though: What happened to the dog? If anyone can answer this question I’d be more than happy to hear from you. It has proved to be one of the great mysteries of modern cinema and strange that in a film of this calibre it should be overlooked. I suspect that in a rough cut we would have seen Maximus mourning the loss of his doggy (given that we see his pleasure at the appearance of a Robin at the film’s opening) but somehow this got lost in the editing. Perhaps such a sequence affected the pacing of the film and no one in a preview audience noticed it was missing. Ridley Scott probably thought he’d got away with it! He didn’t’ bank on ‘Super 8 Film Review’, did he? Also, keep a look out for the two chaps having a good laugh together during a wide shot of the battle. They obviously didn’t realize the camera was running and so rather than duelling to the death as they should have been they were enjoying a private moment together. This extract runs for roughly nine minutes. Given the first extract is about twelve minutes we’re well on our way to a full 600ft reel. The sound is in stereo and of good quality. We may even show this sequence again at the October BFCC as in May it was one of those we gave the Dolby Digital treatment. The print stood up very well on the big screen and if anything, this print looks better with a bigger picture. So if you only have a moderately sized ‘Scope screen in your home it’s time to get onto Harkness Hall and order something the size of your average Imax! This extract would benefit enormously. Print A- Sound A JC Box cover reroductions courtesy of Andreas Eggeling |
