Written by Mr. Mouseburger 22nd Jan 2006
Kindly submitted by someguy999
Gladiator Maximus has been a constant thorn in the side of Commodus throughout the film, winning contest after contest, and becoming a crowd favourite, despite the Emperor's best efforts to stack the odds heavily against him.
It culminates, rather unbelievably, in the Emperor challenging Maximus to a fight to the death duel in front of the baying crowd. However, to make sure that he can't lose, Commodus sneakily stabs Maximus in the lung as they are waiting in the tunnel, and orders the guards to patch him up.
In the Coliseum they begin to duel, with a ring of Roman guards around them. This fight is slow and yet well choreographed. Maximus is more than a match for Commodus, but eventually his wound begins to takes its toll on our hero. Then the cheating Commodus pulls a knife out to stab Maximus, but with his last bit of strength, Maximus grabs Commodus's knife hand and twists it around to point to the Emperor's neck.
Commodus punches Maximus, in the hope of getting him to lose his grip, but in so doing, he accidentally plunges himself onto the knife. Maximus then pushes the knife even farther into the Emperor's neck until he falls to the ground, dead.
A fitting death. A justice death. A juicy death.
I absolutely cheered when hearing the gushy sounds of the blade piercing his trachea, forever ending his reign of terror.
Maximus Decimus Meridius is the friggin' man.
Shouldn't this also be in "own weapon", seeing as he was stabbed with his own dagger?
erm, it is, isn't it??
D'oh! Sorry, missed it when I posted that.
How about "Sport"? this was sport back then.
you could argue it was sport i suppose, but i think it was more entertainment - for example, some people would argue that wrestling is a sport, but it absolutely isn't.
What about "revenge"? Commodus did have the man's wife and kid murdered.
How about former friends? After all at the start of the film when Commodus greets Maximus, he says "my old friend".