WORLD TOUR Day 34 - Scotland
BEFORE: It might seem like a bit of a jump, from a 1950's magician to Roman soldiers in the 2nd century A.D., but the common thread is Scotland, called Caledonia at the time. This is my sneaky way of connecting to some Gladiator movies.
THE PLOT: A splinter group of Roman soldiers fight for their lives behind enemy lines after their legion is decimated in a devastating guerrilla attack.
AFTER: If this movie is to believed, Scotland was populated by ruthless, dirty, smelly barbarians who were armed to the teeth and filled with bloodlust. And those were the WOMEN.
Seriously, you can almost see the reasoning that the studio executives used to greenlight this film. People loved "Braveheart", didn't they? And "Gladiator" was a big hit too, right? Then "300" came along with its over-the-top violence and rocked the box-office. So let's put a bunch of Scottish rebels up against a legion of Roman soldiers (the lead character was trained as a gladiator, though), and mix in a bit of the ol' ultra-violence, and it's bound to be a hit. Something didn't work somewhere though, because this film had a six-figure gross, not seven.
I'm not quite sure what the audience's problem with the film was - except that film relies on the "man down behind enemy lines" plot not once, but twice. Aside from repeating itself, the film does manage to pack about three hours worth of action into just 97 minutes. Plus there's betrayal, revenge, a little romance, swordfights, and some serious goddamn injuries. What more could people want?
Starring Michael Fassbender (last seen in "X-Men: First Class"), Dominic West (last seen in "Chicago"), Ulrich Thomsen, Olga Kurylenko, Liam Cunningham, Axelle Carolyn.
RATING: 6 out of 10 decapitations
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