[Drum beats]
[Sombre instrumental music]
What's your name?
Julian Crassus.
Name?
Marcus, sire.
COMMODUS: My father's name.
They must have known of Maximus' escape when they found the bodies of the four men.
They thought it was a barbarian raid.
These are good men, sire. Loyal to the Emperor.
SOLDIER: Load your arrows!
[Drums beating]
SOLDIER: Prepare to fire!
[Tense instrumental music]
COMMODUS: Then perhaps it was you who knew...
and never told me.
- I didn't know. - You didn't know?
COMMODUS: But a general is always in control.
Always in command, isn't he?
Yes, Caesar.
[Drums continue beating]
[Melancholic instrumental music]
Then give the command. Say it.
Fire.
[Melancholic instrumental music continues]
[Hisses]
HAGEN: Maximus.
You commanded legions? You had many victories?
- Yes. - In Germania?
In many countries.
MAN: General.
[Choking]
[Chuckles heartily]
[Grunts]
You have a great name.
He must kill your name before he kills you.
[Trumpets blowing]
Yes, at the far end.
GRACCHUS: Senator Gaius. GAIUS: Hello.
Senator Gracchus.
Don't often see you enjoying the pleasures of the vulgar crowd.
I don't pretend to be a man of the people, Senator...
but I do try to be a man for the people.
[People cheering]
CROWD: Caesar!
CASSIUS: People of Rome!
On the fourth day of Antioch...
we can celebrate the 64th day of the games.
And in his majestic charity...
the Emperor has deigned this day to favour the people of Rome...
with an historical final match.
Returning to the Colosseum today, after five years in retirement...
Caesar is pleased to bring you...
the only undefeated champion...
in Roman history:
The legendary Tigris of Gaul!
[Crowd cheering]
He knows too well how to manipulate the mob.
Marcus Aurelius had a dream that was Rome, Proximo.
This is not it.
Marcus Aurelius is dead, Maximus.
We mortals are but shadows and dust.
Shadows and dust, Maximus!
CASSIUS: Representing the training lyceum of Antonius Proximo...
Caesar is proud to give you...
Aelius Maximus!
[Horns blowing]
[Crowd cheering]
They embrace him like he's one of their own.
The mob is fickle, brother. He'll be forgotten in a month.
No, much sooner than that.
It's been arranged.
We who are about to die salute you.
MAN: We're with you, Maximus!
[Roars]
Fight on, finish it!
[Growls]
GUARDS: Pull, pull!
[Crowd cheering]
[Panting]
GUARDS: Loose! Loose!
[Screams]
MAN 1: Gut him! MAN 2: Kill!
CROWD: Kill!
[Crowd chanting]
[Tense instrumental music]
MAN 3: Maximus the Merciful!
[Crowd cheering]
CROWD: Maximus!
SOLDIER: Forward, arms at ready!
[Crowd booing]
[Tense instrumental music]
COMMODUS: What am I going to do with you?
You simply won't die.
Are we so different, you and I?
You take life when you have to, as I do.
I have only one more life to take. Then it is done.
Then take it now.
They tell me your son...
squealed like a girl when they nailed him to the cross.
And your wife...
moaned like a whore...
when they ravaged her again and again...
and again.
[Melancholic instrumental music]
The time for honouring yourself will soon be at an end...
Highness.
[Sweeping instrumental music]
CROWD: Maximus!
CICERO: General!
MAXIMUS: Cicero!
- Where are you camped? - Ostia.
MAN: We love you, Maximus! WOMAN: Praise the victor!
Tell the men their general lives. Find me.
SOLDIER: Move along! MAXIMUS: Find me!
[Solemn instrumental music]
JUBA: Can they hear you?
- Who? - Your family, in the afterlife.
MAXIMUS: Yes. JUBA: What do you say to them?
To my boy...
I tell him I will see him again soon...
and to keep his heels down when he's riding his horse.
To my wife...
that is not your business.
[Chuckles]
And now they love Maximus for his mercy.
So I can't just kill him, or it makes me even more unmerciful.
The whole thing is like some great nightmare.
FALCO: He is defying you.
His every victory is an act of defiance.
The mob sees this, and so do the Senate.
Every day he lives, they grow bolder.
- Kill him. - No.
I will not make a martyr of him.
[Tense instrumental music]
When I went to the Senate today...
I purposefully told them about using the grain reserves to pay for the games.
And did you note what happened?
- Nothing. - Exactly. Nothing.
COMMODUS: Not a single word of protest.
Even the insolent Senator Gracchus was silent as a mouse.
Why?
I have been told of a certain sea snake...
which has a very unusual method of attracting its prey.
It will lie at the bottom of the ocean as if wounded.
Then its enemies will approach...
and yet it will lie quite still.
And then its enemies will take little bites of it...
and yet it remains still.
So...
we will lie still...
and let our enemies come to us and nibble.
Have every senator followed.
Cicero, my old friend. I thought perhaps I'd seen you for the last time.
CICERO: I thought you were dead. MAXIMUS: Close.
- How long have the men been in Ostia? - All winter.
- And how do they look? - Fat and bored.
MAXIMUS: Who's in command? CICERO: Some fool from Rome.
How soon do you think they could be ready to fight?
For you, tomorrow.
I need you to do something for me.
ACTOR: Come, see, witness.
If you haven't been in the arena, you can see the show here.
Giant Maximus is defeating our emperor, Commodus.
What are we to do? He's just defying everyone...
by doing this to him, they do...
My goodness!
[Crowd laughing]
ACTOR: He got him, he's defeated. MAN: Give way!
[Tense instrumental music]
My lady? I served your father at Vindobona.
SOLDIER: Back. CICERO: My lady.
I served your father at Vindobona.
SOLDIER: Back!
And I served General Maximus. I serve him still.
Stop.
Stand back.
The General sends word, he will meet your politician.
- For your loyalty, soldier. - Thank you, my lady.
LUCILLA: Leave us.
Senator Gracchus.
General.
I hope my coming here today is evidence enough...
that you can trust me.
- The Senate is with you? - The Senate?
Yes. I can speak for them.
You can buy my freedom and smuggle me out of Rome?
GRACCHUS: To what end?
Get me outside the city walls.
Have fresh horses ready to take me to Ostia. My army is encamped there.
By nightfall of the second day, I'll return at the head of 5,000 men.
LUCILLA: But the legions all have new commanders...
Ioyal to Commodus.
Let my men see me alive, and you shall see where their loyalties lie.
This is madness.
No Roman army has entered the capital in 100 years.
I will not trade one dictatorship for another!
The time for half measures and talk is over, Senator.
And after your glorious coup, what then?
You'll take your 5,000 warriors and leave?
I will leave.
The soldiers will stay for your protection under the command of the Senate.
So...
once all of Rome is yours, you'll just give it back to the people?
Tell me why.
Because that was the last wish of a dying man.
I will kill Commodus.
The fate of Rome I leave to you.
Marcus Aurelius trusted you.
His daughter trusts you.
I will trust you.
But we have little time.
Give me two days...
and I will buy your freedom.
GRACCHUS: And you...
You stay alive...
or I'll be dead.
Now we must go.
GRACCHUS: He'll be waiting for you. Stand at the foot of the colossus.
He'll find you.
[Sombre instrumental music]
It won't work.
The Emperor knows too much.
And as for me...
it's becoming dangerous.
You'll be paid on my return.
I give you my word.
Your word? What if you don't return?
Do you remember what it was to have trust, Proximo?
Trust?
Who am I to trust?
MAXIMUS: I will kill Commodus. PROXIMO: Why would I want that?
He makes me rich.
[Tense instrumental music]
I know that you are a man of your word, General.
PROXIMO: I know that you would die for honour.
You would die for Rome.
You would die for the memory of your ancestors.
PROXIMO: But I, on the other hand...
I'm an entertainer.
Guard!
He killed the man who set you free.
[Tense instrumental music]
Praetorians, master.
SOLDIER: Halt!
[Tense instrumental music continues]
[Man laughing]
[Men laughing]
COMMODUS: Where have you been?
COMMODUS: I sent for you.
Please, brother.
What's troubling you?
Does Gracchus have a new lover?
LUCILLA: I don't know.
I thought you'd seen him.
COMMODUS: He infects everyone like a putrid fever.
For the health of Rome, the Senate must be bled.
And he will bleed, too.
Very soon.
But not tonight.
COMMODUS: Do you remember what our father said once?
"It's a dream...
"a frightful dream...
"life is."
Do you think that's true?
I don't know.
[Tense instrumental music continues]
I think it is.
And I have only you to share it with.
Open your mouth.
[Sombre instrumental music]
You know I love you.
And I love you.
[Tense instrumental music]
SOLDIER: Out. Get out!
Move!
Congratulations, General.
You've got very persuasive friends.
My brother has had Gracchus arrested.
LUCILLA: We daren't wait any longer. We must leave tonight.
Proximo will come at midnight and take you to the gate.
Your servant, Cicero, will be waiting there with horses.
MAXIMUS: You have done all this? LUCILLA: Yes.
You risk too much.
I have much to pay for.
MAXIMUS: You have nothing to pay for.
You love your son. You're strong for him.
I am tired of being strong.
My brother hates all the world, and you most of all.
MAXIMUS: Because your father chose me. LUCILLA: No.
Because my father loved you.
And because I loved you.
A long time ago.
Was I very different then?
MAXIMUS: You laughed more.
I have felt alone all my life...
except with you.
LUCILLA: I must go.
Yes.
[Romantic instrumental music]
LUCIUS: There.
And I got you.
COMMODUS: Isn't it late to be playing legionnaire?
I'm not a legionnaire.
- Not a legionnaire? - I'm a gladiator.
A gladiator?
Gladiators only fight in the games.
Wouldn't you rather be a great Roman warrior like Julius Caesar?
I'm Maximus, the saviour of Rome!
The saviour of Rome?
[Tense instrumental music]
And who said that?
Where's Lucius?
He's with the Emperor, my lady.
LUCIUS: She couldn't. COMMODUS: She did.
She took it from a basket...
and pressed it to her breast, right here above her heart.
LUCIUS: It bit her in the breast? COMMODUS: Yes.
You see, Lucius, sometimes royal ladies...
behave very strangely and do very odd things in the name of love.
LUCIUS: I think it's silly. COMMODUS: So do I.
Sister, join us.
COMMODUS: I've been reading to dear Lucius.
LUCIUS: I've been reading, too. COMMODUS: Yes.
He's a very clever little boy. He'll make a grand emperor one day.
We've been reading about the great Mark Antony and his adventures in Egypt.
And the queen killed herself with a snake.
COMMODUS: And just wait until you hear what happened to our ancestors.
If you're very good, tomorrow night I'll tell you the story of Emperor Claudius.
He was betrayed...
by those closest to him.
[Tense instrumental music]
By his own blood.
They whispered in dark corners...
and went out late at night...
and conspired, and conspired.
But the Emperor Claudius knew that they were up to something.
He knew they were busy little bees.
And one night he sat down with one of them...
and he looked at her...
and he said:
"Tell me what you've been doing...
"busy little bee.
"Or I shall strike down those dearest to you.
"You shall watch as I bathe in their blood."
And the Emperor was heartbroken.
The little bee had wounded him more deeply than anyone else could ever have done.
What do you think happened then, Lucius?
I don't know, Uncle.
The little bee told him everything.
[Ominous instrumental music]
[Menacing instrumental music]
[Menacing instrumental music continues]
SOLDIER: Open, in the name of the Emperor!
Proximo!
Open the gates, in the name of the Emperor!
Open the gates!
Open the gates, Proximo.
Do you want to die, old man?
Here.
PROXIMO: Everything is prepared.
It seems you have won your freedom.
Proximo, are you in danger of becoming a good man?
- Juba. - All enemies of the emperor die!
Open the gates!
[Valiant instrumental music]
SOLDIER: Pull!
SOLDIER: Move! Form a column on the left!
I only need moments, so do not be careless with your lives.
If you don't want any part of this, go back to your cells.
We'll wait here for you, Maximus.
ALL: Strength and honour. HAGEN: Go.
Strength and honour.
SOLDIER: Aim. Arch your bows!
[Valiant instrumental music continues]
[Tense instrumental music]
Shadows and dust.
Maximus!
I'm sorry.
[Intense instrumental music]
FALCO: It's done.
COMMODUS: And what of my nephew?
And what of his mother?
Should they share her lover's fate?
Or should I be merciful?
Commodus the Merciful.
Lucius will stay with me now.
And if his mother...
so much as looks at me...
in a manner that displeases me...
he will die.
[Tense instrumental music]
If she decides to be noble...
and takes her own life...
he will die.
[Tense instrumental music continues]
COMMODUS: And as for you...
you will love me...
as I have loved you.
COMMODUS: You will provide me with an heir of pure blood...
so that Commodus...
and his progeny will rule for 1,000 years.
Am I not merciful?
Am I not merciful!
[Solemn instrumental music]
CROWD: Maximus!
[Sweeping instrumental music]
I'm a soldier. I obey.
Nothing happens to anyone that he is not fitted by nature to bear.
Maximus!
COMMODUS: They call for you.
COMMODUS: The general who became a slave.
The slave who became a gladiator.
The gladiator who defied an emperor.
A striking story.
COMMODUS: Now the people want to know how the story ends.
Only a famous death will do.
And what could be more glorious...
than to challenge the Emperor himself in the great arena?
MAXIMUS: You would fight me? COMMODUS: Why not?
Do you think I'm afraid?
I think you have been afraid all your life.
Unlike Maximus the Invincible, who knows no fear?
[Chuckles]
I knew a man who once said, "Death smiles at us all.
"All a man can do is smile back."
I wonder...
did your friend smile at his own death?
You must know.
[Solemn instrumental music]
He was your father.
You loved my father, I know...
but so did I.
That makes us brothers, doesn't it?
Smile for me now, brother.
Strap on his armour. Conceal the wound.
[Sinister instrumental music]
[Stately instrumental music]
[Stately instrumental music continues]
SOLDIER: Ring formation!
[Crowd cheering]
[Surreal instrumental music]
[Tense instrumental music]
[Crowd cheering]
[Puffs]
[Grunts]
[Crowd cheering]
[Gasps]
Quintus, sword.
Give me your sword.
Sword! Give me a sword!
Sheathe your swords.
[Surreal instrumental music]
[Groans]
[Gasps]
[Surreal instrumental music]
QUINTUS: Maximus.
Quintus.
Free my men.
MAXIMUS: Senator Gracchus is to be reinstated.
There was a dream that was Rome.
It shall be realised.
These are the wishes of Marcus Aurelius.
QUINTUS: Free the prisoners. Go!
[Surreal instrumental music continues]
Maximus.
Lucius is safe.
Go to them.
[Sniffles]
[Surreal instrumental music continues]
You're home.
[Lucilla sobbing]
[Melancholic instrumental music]
Is Rome worth one good man's life?
We believed it once.
Make us believe it again.
He was a soldier of Rome.
Honour him.
Who will help me carry him?
[Melancholic instrumental music]
[Solemn instrumental music]
JUBA: Now we are free.
I will see you again.
[Surreal instrumental music]
But not yet.
Not yet.
[Surreal instrumental music continues]