L'ange du ring

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.

Through the Nineties I did my trips to the video shop to rent B movies as they were mostly better than the Hollywood ones and Gladiator is the one B Movie which stands out. If you watch it now you would compare it to the likes of Rocky and 8 Mile because of it's background set around a dead less town with nobody but dead weights.

I think James Marshall is playing his best [performance of his career which isn't didn't last that long. Cuba Gooding Jnr will be most recognised here as Lincoln. Also there is Brain Dennehy and Robert Loggia as the would be villains. Tommy Riley played by Marshall is a loner and keeps himself to himself but because of this he attracts trouble on his first day in school since moving with his father who is an addictive drunk and gambler who is sorting his life out. Tommy one night is working at the local café and is confronted outside by the local gang run by there leader Short Cut. Punches are thrown and Tommy comes better off but they are interrupted by Pappy Jack played by Robert Loggia who scouts and looks for would be Boxer hopefuls to put them into the ring in illegal boxing. To clear his father's debts he is taken in by the money that the boxing offers and as much he tries to get out of it there is always something bringing him back. Here he meets Romano and becomes friendly with Lincoln and is a household name but knows it's not long till his own brain will be crushed without repair. The man that decides everything is Horn played brilliantly by Brian Dennehy who always has something on each Boxer to continue Boxing and make him more Money than he already has. Greed has an obvious big part to play in the film but what is great to see is how all the young characters bond well as they are into the same mess as each other but know there is no other way out to make money for their families and to get by. There are scenes where you will cheer harder than you did for rocky but it's the performance as with rocky that steal the show with everyone on top form and not one bad word to be said. Films like this are not made these days so appreciate this for what it did in the nineties and also probably helped some careers especially Cuba Gooding who starred in this not much longer after Boyz N The Hood. If you get the chance then watch this as it has a story than it strong enough to better the likes of 8 Mile and has better performances and memorable characters and a the same time will make you feel good about yourself which is why gladiator is the important film that I will always remember.

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."