Look, my husband will tell you that me and history don’t get along. He thinks that just because I was a teacher (and taught middle school social studies for several years) I should know more about history than I do. I really don’t know much because it doesn’t interest me like it does him. And since I’m not interested in history, I am absolutely not interested in movies based on history. Which is why I only reluctantly agreed to see “Gladiator” in the theater when it came out in 2000. Josh and I had only just started dating and I was still in the lovey-dovey phase where I kind of just went along with whatever he wanted to do because being together with him is all that I cared about. To be fair, I still feel like that, but I digress.
I sat through “Gladiator” in the theater and absolutely hated it.
Back then Josh said if the movie had been advertised as a “Roman love story” more women would have wanted to see it. And he’s right. The whole movie really is about Maximus wanting to serve the empire and get home to his wife. When he finds out she was killed, his life becomes one dedicated to avenging her (and their son’s) murder. It really is a love story at the very core.
So I hated it at first despite how good the story is. And I knew I would hate it. However, 26 years later and I love this movie! It could be because of all the memes, like the one I posted above. Well, that’s not necessarily a meme, but that image is used in teacher memes that are about trying to keep students engaged. This movie has really become a part of pop culture I believe. So much so that they made a sequel–which we saw, but only once because the story was really a stretch and definitely not as good as the original.
I also came to love this movie because once it came to cable, it was on ALL THE TIME. And it still is! I swear at least once a week I can find it on t.v. on some station. But I don’t mind. I usually leave it on and watch it when I find it. It really is a good movie, with some pretty iconic scenes. For example, how can anyone not feel something when Maximus takes his helmet off and turns around to face the emperor and delivers his speech?
Then you spend the rest of the movie hoping he really does get his vengeance. Which he does. Such a good story!
Josh appreciates it for the history…he always seems to have a new fact about Rome that he tells me when we watch. There’s a lot to unpack in this movie! We’re fans of Russel Crowe because of this movie. He definitely earned the Oscar for it.
To be 100% honest, I appreciate it for Joaquin Phoenix. This movie, and then seeing him in Signs the next year, started my crush on him. This was the first movie I saw him in and I was almost convinced that his lip scar was on purpose to make him look more evil.
So, I did expect to hate this movie and I did. But it grew on me and now I absolutely love it. It definitely sometimes takes a second (or third or fourth) viewing to really like something.
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