-Very artistic-feeling movie, with the stark lighting, the use of color, the performances.
-Quite grotesque at certain points. Watching the blood spurt out of the heads of those just shot... it can be a bit much.
I can understand why it is one of the most widely praised movies of all time.
So overly dramatic it loops back to being entertaining. I think life would be much more interesting if I had the mindset of these brothers.
-The constant dramatizations of scenes from 100 years ago when they found the stones initially are so funny, and I know they aren't trying to be.
-I don't understand why they are acting like they are doing something controversial or secretive. They keep saying that they might be the target of some kind of attack by a violent cabal because of their nosing into this mystery.
So fun! I wish there were more expansions of existing worlds in ways like this, where the tone is very different from the original work. To be clear, I'm not talking about wanting more cookie-cutter sequels. Like imagine a mockumentary sitcom in the style of The Office or Parks and Rec set in Middle-Earth, with elves, dwarves, hobbits, etc. Or a nature-documentary in the world of Pokémon, where they observe wild Pokémon and have a David Attenborough style narration explaining the nuances of the food web, but it has to be taken seriously.
-It's a good looking movie generally, except for the opening battle sequence. I don't like when they try to simulate the chaos of battle by just moving the camera around like crazy. It feels like a cheap trick.
-Marcus Aurelius is pretty foolish to think that Commodus will just accept the plan for Maximus to be emperor. Like if he knew that Commodus was too unstable to be worthy of the throne, maybe he should have suspected that he would…
