{"id":8994,"date":"2024-11-24T10:27:21","date_gmt":"2024-11-24T15:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=8994"},"modified":"2024-12-21T09:02:23","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T14:02:23","slug":"gladiator-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/11\/24\/gladiator-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Gladiator II"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Gladiator II<\/strong> (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Action-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 148 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong bloody violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Ridley Scott\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: David Scarpa\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Harry Gregson-Williams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: John Mathieson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 22, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, Peter Mensah, Matt Lucas, Alexander Karim, Tim McInnerny, Rory McCann, Yuval Gonen, Alec Utgoff, Yann Gael.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Although definitely entertained, I can safely say Gladiator II<\/strong> will not repeat the success of the original film and take home the Best Picture Oscar. It\u2019s good, but it\u2019s goofy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Ridley Scott returns to direct the sequel to his hit film from nearly a quarter century ago. I\u2019m not a big fan of belated sequels. More oft than not, they\u2019re inferior cash-grab projects designed to lure in fans of beloved movies from their youth. I still bristle when I think of Coming 2 America. I had no reason to believe Gladiator II<\/strong> would be any different. Well, it\u2019s certainly inferior to the original, but it\u2019s still a pretty good movie that works primarily because it refuses to take itself too seriously. How seriously can you take a movie that pits Roman gladiators against sharks? Yes, you read that right, sharks.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Set 16 years after the events of the first film, Gladiator II<\/strong> opens with the invasion of Numidia by the Roman army led by General Acacius (Pascal, The Mandalorian). In the fracas, the wife of Hanno (Mescal, All of Us Strangers) is killed. He\u2019s captured and brought to Rome where he\u2019s purchased by Macrinus (Washington, Training Day) as a gladiator. That\u2019s right after he sees Hanno defeat a feral baboon in an impromptu match. He promises Hanno a chance to avenge his wife if he wins enough matches.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It isn\u2019t the most closely guarded secret in the world. Hanno is actually Lucius, the grandson of former Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and true heir to the throne. He was sent away by his mother Lucilla (Nielsen, Nobody) who feared for the boy\u2019s safety after the events of the first film. He\u2019s been living in exile all these years. He\u2019s not too happy to see his mother again, especially since she\u2019s married to Acacius. He\u2019s determined to kill the general.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Gladiator II<\/strong> is more than a mere revenge story. There\u2019s also political intrigue. The current rulers of Rome are twin brothers Geta (Quinn, Stranger Things) and Caracalla (Hechinger, The White Lotus), a depraved pair who look like they\u2019d be right at home in Caligula. There\u2019s a plan to overthrow them and restore the Republic. It\u2019s being led by Acacius and Lucilla. It\u2019s a pretty safe bet they\u2019ll be betrayed and sentenced to death in the Colosseum.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019d like to circle back to what I mentioned about sharks before. The first Gladiator was a serious-minded sword-and-sandal historical epic. Gladiator II<\/strong> is only half-serious if that. It gets silly. The scene that first comes to mind is a reenactment of a naval battle in the Colosseum. The arena is filled with water with sharks swimming around. According to historians, the shark bit is total BS (No DUH!). I also find it difficult to believe gladiators entered the arena atop a rhinoceros, yet it happens here. Talk about taking historical liberties. It makes it almost impossible to take Gladiator II<\/strong> seriously.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I can take silliness. It usually keeps things interesting. What I\u2019m not crazy about are the two lead actors in Gladiator II<\/strong>. Comparisons to their counterparts in the original movie are inevitable and, in this case, unfavorable. Mescal is okay, but he doesn\u2019t have the commanding presence of Russell Crowe. He has some memorable scenes like when he contemptuously recites Virgil\u2019s poetry to Geta when he asks about his background. However, he fails to take command of the film like Crowe did. Pascal is less effective as the target of Hanno\u2019s ire. He\u2019s nowhere near as contemptible as Joaquin Phoenix. To be fair, he\u2019s a different kind of antagonist. He\u2019s a rational person questioning his loyalty to dictators with dreams of conquering the world. In other words, he\u2019s sane. Unfortunately, he\u2019s also a weak villain.<\/p>\n

\u00a0If Gladiator II<\/strong> belongs to any one actor, it\u2019s Denzel. The man is brilliant in everything and he continues this streak here playing a wealthy landowner who claims to have no political ambitions. Yeah, we know that\u2019s all kinds of BS. This guy desires power and will surely abuse it if he gets it. He doesn\u2019t play Macrinus as overtly evil. Rather, he plays him as smooth and charming with an undercurrent of malevolence. I think it\u2019s deserving of at least an Oscar nomination. Quinn and Hechinger play their roles as a combination Romulus and Remus and Beavis and Butthead. They\u2019re just nuts. Nielsen, reprising her role from the original, exudes grace and maternal love. Alexander Karim (TV\u2019s Tyrant) is great as ally Ravi, a former gladiator who now serves as doctor to injured fighters.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Visually, Gladiator II<\/strong> is a mighty impressive production. I know a lot of it is CGI, but I couldn\u2019t help but admire the sets and architecture. The costumes are also terrific. The cinematography by John Mathieson is gorgeous. The fight choreography is right on-point with plenty of bloodletting. I\u2019m only disappointed about the crowd scenes. Movies like Gladiator II<\/strong> call for actual humans, not digitally rendered people in the stands. Filmmaker, bring back human extras!<\/p>\n

\u00a0As far as sequels go, Gladiator II<\/strong> is a decent one. It\u2019s better than most. Still, I don\u2019t think it was entirely necessary. Then again, is any sequel entirely necessary? It\u2019s a question yet to be answered by mortal man.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gladiator II (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Action-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 148 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong bloody violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Ridley Scott\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: David Scarpa\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Harry Gregson-Williams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: John Mathieson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 22, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, Peter Mensah, Matt Lucas, Alexander Karim, Tim McInnerny, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9023,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Gladiator-II-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8994"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9024,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8994\/revisions\/9024"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}