(film review) - Gladiator II

When I first heard of the Gladiator 2 movie, I was not sure how to felt about it. This is a sequel to an old film and the premise they had at the time was something about Maximus coming back from the dead or something weird. It might have been a fake rumour or something else but eventually, the story started to circle around the son of Maximus and a similar premise to the previous movie. Then I started to hear that Joseph Quinn was joining the cast along with Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington, so it was starting to get meaty, you know. A nice healthy cast. The addition of Denzel threw me a little but, whatever, let's see what this is all about. The next thought I had was, do I watch the first movie before I watch this sequel or do I go in clean? You see I have not seen Gladiator since I saw it all those years ago in the cinema. I remember it being a long film and I also remember enjoying it. But then my thoughts started to circle the idea of comparing how the sequel should go and how it should make me feel based on the first one. So I wondered, should I watch the first movie for an update on the story? But would that ultimately put my mind in a place where I will constantly compare the sequel to the first movie. I was not sure what to do, so last night, I wanted to go cinema, I decided on Gladiator, I did not watch the first movie beforehand and upon coming out, "Are you not entertained?" Yes, I was.

The film picks up with Hanno (Paul Mescal), spending time with his wife Arishat before the Roman Army invades their city led by General Acacius (Pedro Pascal) ordered by the corrupt twin emperors. Once captured Hanno is tested as a fighter to become a potential gladiator only to build up his notoriety to take revenge on Acacius.

I enjoyed this movie. A bag of popcorn, drink, action, loud music, a wonderful score, really good acting, but a decent storyline, not a great one. The storyline is not anything groundbreaking at all and may even mirror the first movie but for what it is worth, I enjoyed the storyline even though it is definitely not one of Ridley's best. A few gripes I had with the movie were the special effects as they were not great and some of the set pieces and the things they did in the movie, due to using the special effects heavily, are the reasons why some of it just did not work and stood out like a sore thumb. I was very entertained by the end of the movie, which is the main thing as that is what we do as movie-goers; we are out trying to be entertained by stories that transport us from our reality. The special effect hinders that experience just a little. Some elements of the movie also made zero sense and were not explained but you simply run with it, it's a movie...relax and enjoy.

The acting was good and Denzel was also really good. Not his best work but a little different from some of the roles he has played previously. It was great to see Connie Nielsen and Joseph Quinn was ok, again nothing special about his character although his performance was good, but I do feel he was wasted, slightly (he's a good actor). I really liked Pedro Pascal's character as he had layers to him which as an audience you begin to understand later as the movie goes on, his motivations and reasonings. I will say Ridley did a great directing job with this movie but I do wonder if this movie was 20 years too late or if the execution is the issue or was it the writing? because Top Gun: Maverick has an even larger gap between the two movies but everything about that movie was written, acted and directed well.

I am going to watch the first one again and I am sure it is going to look dated in comparison since it came out 24 years ago, but without comparing the two (hopefully), chances are, they are both the same (for now) until I watch the first one again, which is still considered a classic, might I add. Paul Mescal is ok, but Russell Crowe had more weight on his performance and owned the role more than Paul. There was a level of gravitas Russell carried but Paul didn't seem to carry that in his performance. This is not saying he was trash, but maybe miscast, or swallowed and drowned out by Russell's performance. He had some pretty big shoes to fill, and that is the only comparison I can really make at this time. Go watch it, you will enjoy it.