Gladiator: el desafío comienza

Gladiator is a boxing movie which does more than tell you about boxing. James Marshall (A Few Good Men, Twin Peaks) stars as a young man who is forced to move to a poor neighborhood and fend for himself while his dad travels to find work and pay off his gambling debts. In order to make some money, a talented boxer, Marshall joins a crooked boxing organization. He signs up with a former fighter, perfectly played by Brian Dennehey (Tommy Boy, F/X), soon he begins to form a friendship with the top boxer in the league, well-played by Cuba Gooding Jr. (Jerry Maguire, Outbreak). After a while, the crooked boxing and an upcoming fight against a possibly brain-damaged Gooding Jr. makes Marshall re-evaluate what he's doing. Robert Loggia (Independence Day, Lost Highway) beautifully plays another crooked person involved in the organization. Ossie Davis (Doctor Dolittle, I'm Not Rappaport) gives the film a heart as Marshall's manager. Finally, Marshall delivers a strong performance that will make you cheer for him. This film's entertaining boxing scenes and good moral make it a great film

What does every action movie need?

A nasty villian that the audience can hate, and a good, tough hero that the audience can love. If these character premises are established and the plot flows, the final confrontation between these two arch-enemies should be breath-taking and keep the audience guessing.

Gladiator does this perfectly. The boxing scenes are gripping, intense and pull the audience out of their seats to cheer for the films two heroes... Tommy Riley and Cuba. The movie has a great soundtrack and a noticeable visual style that stays constant throughout the film.

Horn (the bad guy) played by Brian Dennehy and his sidekick Pappy Jack played by Robert Loggia are a great combination of nastiness. Horn is brutally evil and rules his underground boxing contingent with an iron fist, while Pappy Jack is a sleezy, humorous villian that compliments Horn's seriousness beautifully.

The characters have some depth, but not much. Who needs depth in an action movie anyway? Tommy Riley, Cuba, and Romano's stations in life and their particular choices are explained adequately enough for the audience to sympathize with their situations and want them to kick some serious ass.

Bottomline:

A kick-ass action movie. You will find yourself cheering loudly and rewinding parts because of their sheer intensity and visual, ass-kicking style.

After decades, I see it as a good film. For themes, sensitive ones, from the sacrifice for help the father to the illegal boxing circle, from acting ( after Twin Peaks , a real interesting work of James Marshall , impressive job of Brian Dennehy, a young Cuba Gooding jr. Proposing the fair portrait of Lincoln and, not the last, Robert Loggia ).

But the great virtue remains the 1990 atmosphere , fair defined scene by scene.

Indeed, a too used subject but , in this case, in touching manner, convincing in some measure. And, maybe, in strange way, for very subjective reasons, a memorable film for not so young public.

It might not be on the level of the first Rocky or of Cinderella Man and it gets largely forgotten due to sharing its name with a giant epic of a movie but this is an underappreciated gem form the early 90's which I used to watch repeatedly. It's a rousing and well choreographed fight movie with a likable protagonist. Many have criticized Marshall's performance as stiff but I think it works for the character and his stoic nature. Dennehy was great as the antagonist, one of his better roles honestly. There is some cheesiness and you do get one or two montages which feel like holdouts from the 80's but this is a really good movie with a lot of heart which films from this genre seriously lack these days. Within the category of boxing films it is in my top 5 for sheer enjoyment of it.

I think we can safely tick all the boxes above.

I am a huge fan of the sport of boxing and a big fan of boxing movies, for the most part. I have also noted on multiple occasions how good and versatile an actor Cuba Gooding JR. At this point in his career, Gooding JR was still in his early stages, but comes through like a champ in this interesting and gritty underground pugilism movie.

There are lots of montages, plenty of boxing set to cheesy motivational 80s songs. The finale is quite ludicrous but inevitable in these types of flicks, and good triumphs over evil as it tends to do in movies if not real life.

It will never be known as a classic but is in the same vein as some of Van Damme's best… If you love boxing and are a fan of the ridiculous, GLADIATOR is for you. I highly recommend it.

"Anger is the enemy."