Gladiator 2 - (Ridley Scott/Nov 22nd)

tripleaamin

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Honestly, coming off the original, I would say it was decent.

It continued the theme of the people of Rome. Having the two idiot emperors killing what was their hero and going against the crowd was an interesting spin since Commodus wasn't dumb enough to something so stupid. It gives an indication how far they have fallen.

Macrinus was a very interesting villain. Denzel had the best performance in the film. A former slave owning Gladiators and able to use the failed rebellion to his advantage to create a line for him for the throne was interesting. You could feel everything was under his control.

The big criticism I have is the character writing. That was some of the original's movies best points. Here it is just average. Lucius was a shell of the character that Maximus was. I feel that it rushed Lucius character then all of a sudden we learn he is the kid from the first movie and Maxiumus son to boot? Then him not killing General Acacius should have carried more weight. Him realizing Rome is turning its back on its hero, imagining if he turned his back on Maximus is something he would never do.

Music felt a downgrade. While the fights obviously were better, obviously this is where the original slightly shows it age.

Def a film, my suggestion is to wait for it be on streaming services. The problem is that the beginning third was a mess. It wasn't until it was confirmed in the film that the character that Paul Mescal played was Lucius that the film started to have a sense of direction. At that point, it is equivalent to starting a football game with a handicap against your favor.
 

Ribbs

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Good but not great. Almost the same beats as the first one. Denzel was just head and shoulders above everyone else when it came to charisma and charm. Mescal was fine, Pedro was useless and Joseph Quinn tried his best but nah. The historical inaccuracies be damned, this script was poor. None of the speeches hit and that's kinda what I looked for most with sword and sandal productions.

S/o Peter Mensah, Spartacus gang STAND UP, for his short appearance in this. :salute:
 

Silver Surfer

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Pedro's was the best byfar. You kinda buggin there bruh.

In fact, he was so good, I'm slightly intrigued about the next fantastic four just to see him and the evil twin do good.

Denzel was a NYer chilling in Rome/Malta fụcking shıt up putting the battery in everyone backs. Connie Nielson from Gladiator 1 delivered a stellar performance in part 2.

Despite all biases, there was some good acting. The main character was boring and a favorable privileged kid. Commodus shouldn't have died for him. That's not a spoiler. Everyone's seen gladiator 1.
Pedro had 5-10 minutes max of screen time in a 2.5 hour movie.

What did he do or say that was memorable?
 

Peter Popoff

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Pedro had 5-10 minutes max of screen time in a 2.5 hour movie.

What did he do or say that was memorable?
Overall acting in general. Even in the very beginning or his interaction with the Queen. His character was very memorable and I think that's what grasped me as a critic.

I try to stray from calling Denzel a kinda americanized 3 dimensional actor. Jeffrey Wright would've easily brought this movie up to perhaps a 8.2 if he would've used an English accent but that 3rd act was so trash, they should've went back to the drawing board or fleshed out a better ending.
 

Nigerianwonder

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Denzel finally made a bad movie. This was terrible. Way too long also. 2 people walked our when I watched and one person fell asleep and started snoring loudly. This should have been straight to netflix or something. None of the characters were believable. Cgi was horrible too. 3/10.
 
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This movie just didn't do it for me.

Denzel had a great performance, but he did ham it up a little bit.

Pedro Pascal was an absolute waste. He had such an aura to him but was badly miss used.

Lucious just wasn't a convincing main character to me. Should just had a nobody come in.

I ain't gonna lie I was hoping Denzel smashed the brakes off of Connie Nielsen in their final scene:russ:She was looking good

Plus how tf they capture multiple sharks :mjtf:
 

MacNCheese

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This was one of those movies where the main character was also the least interesting one. You can get away with it sometimes but I don't think they did here. Outside of one of his scenes with Nielsen and one other scene in the coliseum where he gives his speech, they didn't give Mescal too much to work with, so I won't put it on him. That being said I couldn't buy into his character, specifically the change of heart he has in the middle of the film. Without getting into spoilers, I'll just say it seemed like Lucius just did whatever the plot needed him to do. Denzel and Pascal delivered, and the fights were decent though they did lack the gravitas and tension of what we got in the original.

Also, I'm not one to complain about historical accuracy in a film like this, but I really think the movie would've benefited from having a more accurate depiction of Caracalla. Historians generally depict real life Caracalla as an intensely brutal, mentally ill psuedo military man rather than the syphilitic moron we got in the movie. I think a character more similar to the real emporer would've fit the movie's themes a little better.
 
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