Reviews

The plot may be set in today's world, but Hunter-Killer feels like the Cold War never thawed out. The American nuclear submarine Augusta (SSN-800) is commanded by scowling Scottish actor Gerald Butler while the Joint Chiefs of Staff is chaired by the Oscar-winning British thespian Gary Oldman who chews the scenery and his fellow actors with gusto. Since this is Hollywood, there is a female U.S. President (Caroline Goodall) and national security advisor (Linda Cardellini) while Rear Admiral Common is channeling his inner Cory Booker. Throw in a top-secret SEAL team infiltrating Mother Russia while a couple of renegade Russian military officers led by a rogue Defense Minister is bent on deposing their matinee-idol Prez and you got yourself a Tom Clancy cocktail. Did I loved it? What's not to love! I really dug that old thriller novel by Keith Wheeler which I read when I was a kid. Or that old Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea TV episode "The Exile" with Ed Asner channeling his inner Beria. So if you have a couple of hours to spare and want to enjoy a white-knuckle submarine thriller, Hunter-Killer is your cup of grog. On a sad note, this was the last film for Michael Nyqvist. Rest in Peace. As an ironic aside, Nyqvist's chacracter is given the U.S. sub skipper's lucky piece at the end of the movie.

While I am sure that among the hundreds of IMdB reviews for this movie there has been mention of this, I would like to note that remarkable similarity between Ridley Scott's GLADIATOR and another movie, Samuel Bronston's 1964 production FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE directed by Anthony Mann.

SPOILER ALERT

STRENGTH AND HONOR

Both productions share a number of similar attributes. Both films were assembled by a superb production team and directed by consummate craftsmen. Most telling is that both films cover the same historical period with similar story content and themes.

Both films open during the final Roman campaign against the Germanic barbarians under Emperor Marcus Auriliuis.

Both films have the Emperor selecting a gifted general and long-time associate to become his successor, not his libertine, corrupt son, Commodus.

Both films have Marcus Aurelius dying under mysterious circumstances prior to the announcement of succession, and Commodus becoming Emperor, with disastrous consequences for the Empire.

Both films have a prior, unspoken relationship existing between the general and Marcus Aurelius's daughter, Lucilla.

Both films have the general and Commodus fighting a final, public duel to the death.

Both films unapologetically embrace Roman life and culture without reference to pro-Christian themes found in more traditional Hollywood epics.

DUST AND SHADOWS

Where these films diverge are on the personal and political levels.

Unlike Stephen Boyd's general in FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, General Maximus Decimus Meridius, played by Russell Crowe, is a happily married man with a wife and young son that yearns to return home to them following a long, bloody campaign. Their deaths by the new Emperor's order compel Crowe's character to seek revenge against Commodus.

Please note that Mel Gibson was initially approached to play the lead role. MAD MAXIMUS, perhaps?

Equally significant is that Lucilla has a young son who is threatened by Commodus, which adds the emotional conflict for Maximus.

Finally, there is a strongly hint of incest between Commodus and Lucilla in GLADIATOR while FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE embraces a more libertine lifestyle.

On the political level, both films address different themes that were appropriate at the time of their release.

Both films ask: What is the idea of Rome?

For FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, it is the question of inclusiveness of the various races within the Empire as articulated by the late Alec Guinness as the philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius.

The meeting of the provisional governors along the Germanic frontier, the Senatorial debates, and the attempted assimilation the conquered Germanic peoples into a greater Roman world are part of this theme. This theme is personified by the slave Timonides played by the late James Mason.

Commodus' corruption and destructive policies hastens Rome's eventual decline and dissolution and the onset of a dark age in western civilization.

Such themes as inclusiveness are appropriate for the mid-Sixties with the Civil Rights movement, youth protests, and wars of liberation confronting policy-makers.

For GLADIATOR, the dying Marcus Aurelius, played by Richard Harris, calls upon Rome to return to its republican, pre-imperial roots. The behind-the-scenes machinations of the reform movement within the Senate are examples of this theme, which is personified by Roman senator Gracchus played by Derek Jacobi.

Given a generation that has experienced Watergate, Iran-Contra, and Whitewater, this theme has resonance.

Unlike FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE which emphatically state that Roman's demise is inevitable, GLADIATOR suggests that the eventual decay of the Roman Empire is staved off by the timely intervention of reform-minded patriots and a new generation as personified by Lucilla's son.

WE WHO ARE ABOUT TO DIE SALUTE YOU!

There are of course a number of other areas to praise both films - excellent directions, production values, acting, etc. Will the success of GLADIATOR start a new cycle of epics?

Michael Mann has started work on a movie about the epic battle at Thermoylae between the defending Spartans and the invading Persians, with George Clooney being considered for the lead role.

In 1962, a film entitled 300 SPARTANS told the same story and starred Richard Egan.

History does repeat itself.

Special thanks and appreciation to Derek Ely's excellent book EPIC FILM: HISTORY AND LEGEND.