With such distance between this movie and the previous. I do like that the plot went the route of having the same amount of time surpass. It makes it feel like you’ve grown with the lure if you were there to experience the first movie. The movie also does enough so that you don’t really have to see the first movie to really be entuned with the story in my opinion.
Just like the first movie, it has an amazing opening action sequence. Raw action and gore done beautifully. It’s crazy that the first movie had no women fighting in it, and right off the bat we show how bad ass women had to be in those times as well. Unfortunately, plot wise, it really does redo a lot of the same beats of the first movie. Main character enslaved and trafficked, then becomes a Gladiator at the behest to his own interests but the person who buys him puts him in a situation of revenge. Seeing that really was a tad disappointing, because Ridley Scott is a great storyteller and I don’t know why him and screenwriter David Scarpa decided to not do something different, yes, it’s a sequel and a continuation, but the first act is really basically the same as its predecessor.
The latter half of the 2nd act and the 3rd act are great to me. That’s when the story and the movie really take off. The film is also carried in its beauty of the action happening in the coliseum. Not shackled by the technological limitations of before, Ridley Scott really goes HAM in those fights. There’s a fight scene with a boat and that had me in awe. Throughout all the film, there are a lot of jump scare inducing death scenes and they are awesome. If you come just for that aspect, then I am pleased to say that you will be pleased with that part of the visual aesthetic.
The cast is great, I feel like Paul Mescal was a great pick for Lucious. They really surrounded him though, with some over shadowing actors. I even feel like Pedro Pascal was holding back at times when sharing the screen with him and he’s still overshadowing him at times. Denzel Washingtons decisions are entertaining if anything and I honestly don’t know how they’ll be received by everyone. Like he’s the only person in the movie that doesn’t do an accent. But how misplaced is that really? In ancient Rome they all spoke Latin, and I’m pretty sure no one had English accents… Joseph Quinn & Fred Hechinger do their best to be the grand Tyrant that Joaquin Phoenix was but, for me, they do fall short. Connie Nielson rounds the cast by being the remaining remnant of the greatness of the first film. All that being said, I feel like Paul Mescal does the best he can to be the leading man here. He’s not as inspirational as Russell Crowe, but I’d run through a wall for him.
Even though some parts of the story could be better, I praise the visuals highly here and it really is a popcorn flick worthy of going to the cinema.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
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