Russell Crowe: 5 Awesome Performances & 5 That Sucked

5 Awesome Performances:

5. Maximus - Gladiator

Like any film that wins Best Picture, some people are very quick to tarnish Gladiator as overrated. To those people, I ask, "Are you not entertained?"

Seriously, its awesome, and that it holds up is down to Crowe. Sure, there's Ridley Scott at the top of his game and Joachim Phoenix making Joffery look like a fair and decent ruler, but it's Maximus' arc, finding spiritual retribution through Gladiator fights, that drives the whole thing.

He's never unnatural, be it as general, slave or icon, and really sells the emotive throughline alongside the action.

This was the film where he made that "greatest actor" quote, by the way. He's also reported to have said to a producer "You motherf*cker. I will kill you with my bare hands", so it sounds like a very stressful shoot.