Official Synopsis
Timo, a student at the Gladiators’ Academy in Rome, who has no desire to become a legendary gladiator like his stepfather. That is, until the mesmerizing Lucilla walks into his life. With the help of an unlikely band of sidekicks, Timo is determined to be the gladiator of her dreams and embarks on an action-packed journey to become the Colosseum’s first victor!
There’s a lot of humor to be had at Roman expense. Movies like History of the World Part I and Sony Picture’s Pompeii (not a movie driven by humor, but the end result of the production was humorous) exploit the wackiness of Roman civilization (toilet humor and whatnot), so there’s plenty of humor to be had in that time period. With that said, Gladiators of Rome definitely tries to play off that same type of humor, though a bit more kid-like, which helps to forgive some shaky story issues that come with it.
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Without further delay, let’s get this review going.
The first act starts tragically, as our hero Timo is one of the lone survivors of what could only be assumed as Pompeii’s volcano eruption. He is rescued by a Roman soldier that helps to raise him with his own daughter, Lucilla. As time passes, Timo is trained and readied by said soldier to become a mighty gladiator and fight in the newly built colosseum. Sadly, as we spiral into act two, Timo’s decision-making falls short and he finds himself on the outside looking in.
The first part of this movie is kind of shaky. The beginning is fine, as we get a quick origin about Timo and why he believes family is enormously important, but it jumps quickly through his teen years and stops the trip at Timo as a young adult. His character, which should be more of humble person due to so much loss in his life, ends up being a loosey-goosey jerk in some respects. He doesn’t work hard to get where he wants to go and ultimately it ends up causing enormous damage to the ones he loves by the end of the first act. What bothers me the most about the first act is that they set him on a path that doesn’t fit his character’s personality. He doesn’t seem like the type of person to cut corners, but he does in the film. I think the first act and especially his character’s personality traits, should have gone a different direction, but come to the same conclusion by act three.
Anyway, as act two begins, we have our hero, Timo, out on his butt and alone, but not for long. He is rescued by a mysterious lady named Diana and is trained how to properly become a gladiator. In return, Timo must give half of his winnings away to Diana, which doesn’t matter to him because he is trying to get back to his true love Lucilla, who is the daughter of his pseudo-father.
Act two and three (three I won’t tell you about, as I don’t want to give much away) are the best of the bunch. Two is packed full of humor, especially during the training scenes between Diana and Timo. The story of Timo’s training is built well and properly gets to a point where you are cheering for him to succeed. Having said that, what’s tragic about act two is that Diana and Timo don’t get together, but you want them to so badly. The extended amount of training and time spent together really does kind of lend a strong love story between the two, much stronger than the connection between Timo and Lucilla. Anyway, by the end of the second act you can predict where the story is heading and how it’s going to end, though the Italian filmmakers throw in a wrench or two before the film comes to that conclusion.
My biggest gripe with this film is how they just plainly get Timo’s personality wrong. Even through the quick flashbacks at the beginning you never get a sense that he ends up the way he ends up when act one really gets settled and moving. It’s okay to say he was irresponsible, but he just seems like an arrogant and lazy jerk, which goes against everything he should be given his past.
The second grip I have, and last, is how the story throws Diana into the mix and it really does point to a potential love connection — which would make complete sense if it happened. Diana’s relationship with Timo during act two is closer to a Meg/Hercules relationship from the Hercules animated movie, and is more believable (and likable) than the Lucilla/Timo connection, which is pretty much shallow at best. If Lucilla really wanted to be with Timo, she certainly would have done her best to stop her father from kicking him out of the group in act one. If she loved him enough, she would have left everything to find him, but she didn’t. Their connection seems forced and empty, but I have to dial my thinking back a bit and remember this is made for kids.