《Gladiator》　角斗士　勇氣與復仇鑄就的悲壯史詩

No.030　《Gladiator》　角斗士　勇氣與復仇鑄就的悲壯史詩

英文導讀

Gladiator is a 2000 epic historical drama film directed by Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed, Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel and Richard Harris.

A man robbed of his name and his dignity strives to win them back, and gain the freedom of his people, in this epic historical drama from director Ridley Scott. In the year 180, the death of emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) throws the Roman Empire into chaos. Maximus (Russell Crowe) is one of the Roman army's most capable and trusted generals and a key advisor to the emperor. As Marcus' devious son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) ascends to the throne, Maximus is set to be executed. He escapes, but is captured by slave traders. Renamed Spaniard and forced to become a gladiator, Maximus must battle to the death with other men for the amusement of paying audiences. His battle skills serve him well, and he becomes one of the most famous and admired men to fight in the Colosseum. Determined to avenge himself against the man who took away his freedom and laid waste to his family, Maximus believes that he can use his fame and skill in the ring to avenge the loss of his family and former glory. As the gladiator begins to challenge his rule, Commodus decides to put his own fighting mettle to the test by squaring off with Maximus in a battle to the death.

Gladiator received positive reviews, with 78% of the critics polled by Rotten Tomatoes giving it favorable reviews, with an averaged score of 7 out of 10. At the website Metacritic, which employs a normalized rating system, the film earned a favorable rating of 64/100 based on 37 reviews by mainstream critics. The Battle of Germania was cited by CNN as one of their "favorite on-screen battle scenes", while Entertainment Weekly named Maximus as their sixth favorite action hero, because of "Crowe's steely, soulful performance", and named it as their third favorite revenge film. In 2002, a Channel 4 (UK TV) poll named it as the sixth greatest film of all time. Paul Ashbourne, an established movie critic, gave the movie three thumbs up, naming it as his favorite movie of all time. In an online review, Ashbourne stated it has a solid story plot with effects which transport us back to ancient Roman times. He admits to have viewed the film over seventy times. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Are you not entertained?"

The film earned $ 34.83 million on its opening weekend at 2,938 U.S. theaters. Within two weeks, the film's box office gross surpassed its $103 million budget. The film continued on to become one of the highest earning films of 2000 and made a worldwide box office gross of $ 457,640,427, with over $ 187 million in American theaters and more than the equivalent of $ 269 million in non-US markets.

Gladiator won five Academy Awards in 2001, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Russell Crowe), Best Visual Effects, Best Costume Design and Best Sound (Bob Beemer, Scott Millan and Ken Weston); the film was nominated for an additional seven, including Best Supporting Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Best Director for Ridley Scott.

獲獎情況

2001年第73屆奧斯卡：最佳影片、最佳男主角、最佳視覺效果、最佳音響、最佳服裝設計獎，并榮獲最佳導演提名、最佳男配角提名、最佳原創(chuàng)劇本提名。

影片信息

導演：雷德利·斯科特

編劇：大衛(wèi)·弗蘭佐尼、約翰·洛根

主演：羅素·克勞、杰昆·菲尼克斯、康妮·尼爾森、理查德·哈里斯

類型：劇情、動作、冒險

制片國家（地區(qū)）：英國、美國

上映日期：2000-05-05（美國）

片長：155分鐘

又名：《神鬼戰(zhàn)士》《帝國驕雄》

劇情簡介

馬克西蒙斯（羅素·克勞　飾）是羅馬帝國戰(zhàn)功顯赫、受人擁戴的大將軍。老國王馬庫斯·奧里利烏斯（理查德·哈里斯　飾）對大將軍賞識有加，有意加冕于他。老國王對將軍這種超越親情的寵愛自然招來太子康莫迪烏斯的妒忌與不安，太子伺機殺害父親，搶先登上王位，并馬上下令誅殺大將軍一家。

馬克西蒙斯死里逃生躲過暴君的魔爪，可是他所有的家人都未能幸免于難，返回家園，他只看到滿目瘡痍的破敗景象。走投無路的馬克西蒙斯只能投身為奴，從昔日的大將軍淪為一名角斗士，在血腥廝殺中茍且求生。憑借英勇的氣魄和高超的武藝，馬克西蒙斯?jié)u漸脫穎而出，他本身豐富的作戰(zhàn)經驗使他逐步成為最著名和最受歡迎的角斗士之一。

失去親人的痛苦，淪為奴隸的屈辱，在馬克西蒙斯的內心燃起了熊熊怒火。為了向剝奪自己自由和家庭幸福的邪惡的康莫迪烏斯復仇，馬克西蒙斯開始用自己的聲名和角斗技術引導羅馬人民起來推翻暴君?？的蠟跛箾Q定與馬克西蒙斯展開一場一對一的生死角斗……

制作花絮

和現今的運動員一樣，古羅馬角斗士也同樣需要簽注背書合同，只是制片方認為難以置信而從未提及。

在拍畢《驚爆內幕》的幾個月后，羅素·克勞開始拍攝本片，當時他剛因出演《局內人》而增重40磅，在本片開拍之前必須恢復體重，而羅素·克勞的減肥方法是在他的澳大利亞農場中干農活。

奧利弗·里德在拍片期間因心臟病突發(fā)去世，當時距影片拍攝完成還有3周，于是一些有他的場景不得不重新制作，并使用了他的3D面孔，耗資300萬美元。

康妮·尼爾森在片中佩戴的戒指是一枚具有2000年歷史的圖章戒指，這枚戒指是在古董店發(fā)現的。

在競技場的畫面中，看臺上的觀眾除了頭兩排之外都是用電腦添加的。

羅素·克勞臉上的傷口是真實的，當時他騎的馬受驚，他的臉被樹枝刮傷。

重點學習

Who took away his freedom and laid waste to his family

文中的laid waste to是lay waste to的過去時態(tài)，在英語中，該固定搭配是“糟蹋，毀壞；使成廢墟；使荒廢”的意思，比如：They did not expect the invaders to lay waste to their civilization. （他們沒有料到侵略者會破壞他們的文明。）

Commodus decides to put his own fighting mettle to the test by squaring off with Maximus in a battle to the death

Square off是英語中的一個固定搭配，在文中它是“擺好（搏斗或拳擊的姿勢）”的意思，常用于美國口語中，比如：They're squaring off, really to fight.（他們正擺出搏擊的架勢，準備大打出手。）Square off還有“把…整理好，作好…的準備”的意思，比如：They squared the drugs off before the policemen came into the room.（警察闖進屋之前，他們早把毒品藏好了。）另外，該搭配還有“（把…）劃成方格；（把…）弄成方塊”等意思。

單詞時間

dignity[?diɡn?ti] n. 尊嚴；高貴

freedom[?fri:d?m] n. 自由，自主；直率

emperor[?emp?r?] n. 皇帝，君主

slave[sleiv] n. 奴隸；從動裝置

gladiator[?ɡlædieit?] n. 斗劍者；古羅馬公開表演的格斗者；爭論者

amusement[??mju:zm?nt] n. 消遣，娛樂；樂趣

glory[?ɡl?:ri] n. 光榮，榮譽；贊頌

steely[?sti:li] adj. 似鋼的，鋼鐵般的；鋼制的；嚴格的

soulful[?s?ulful] adj. 感情上的；高尚的；充滿精神的

equivalent[i?kwiv?l?nt] n. 等價物，相等物