Gladiator II

Review: I don’t care what anyone says. I don’t care about historical inaccuracies. This movie was just straight up cool. If you have an issue with sharks being in the Colosseum, I tell you that sharks are cool & you should have more fun. A wonderful sequel to ‘Gladiator,’ it captures the magic of the first in the same way I would say ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ did. It didn’t feel like a needless cash grab and it leaned into the first without being reliant on it. The performances were great & I’ll keep this spoiler free, but all the twists were executed well. Some random notes I had were that I appreciated Emperor Geta (Joseph Quinn) blaming his brother’s craziness on an STD. That was funny. In fact, there were a fair amount of funny moments. My other note is that Paul Mescal’s thighs are massive. Good for him.

High: The character dynamics were stellar. There was animosity between every major character to the point that I truly had no idea who was aligned all the way through, which led to a great power struggle. I would attribute this to both the writing & performances of every actor involved. No matter how small the part, every character had a presence that was felt & understood.

Low: IF I had to pick a low, I’d say the mystery of Paul Mescal’s character was leaned into a little too much since it was obvious who he was from the first announcement of the film. That being said, it didn’t really bother me. A low I’ve seen some people discussing was that Denzel didn’t put on an accent to which I have a few thoughts. First, I didn’t notice it in the slightest. Secondly, I would ask what they think an ancient Roman accent should be? Because Pedro Pascal basically used his normal voice with different inflection, Paul Mescal sounded British with a hint of his true Irish accent, & even Russell Crowe in the first just sounded like Russell Crowe. If you want a historically accurate accent, I recommend you seek out a Latin dub of the film.

Rating: 10/10