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| Photo from Internet Movie Poster Awards |
Film: Gladiator II
Director: Ridley Scott
Length: 2h 28m
Genre: Action/Adventure
Rating: Restricted
Released: Nov. 22, 2024
What a week for films!
The film that will be discussed today is Gladiator II. I feel the need to mention that yes, I have watched the first one and yes, I do think it is important to watch the first film before watching the sequel. If you have watched the first one; I do recommend rewatching the first one just to refresh your memory but I will say it isn’t necessary. I haven’t heard many people talking about this film since it came out so I don’t know of anyone else’s opinions.
I’ll be honest, going into the theater I was worried that the film wouldn’t be a good sequel. I didn’t think it would tie in to the first one well, if at all. I am pleased to say that I was incorrect. It was well made. I think the general concepts of the story are good and it makes it a continuation of the story rather than a separate story with the same concept. I have been thinking about the film since I watched it.
To counter that, I will say it is a little confusing and I’m not sure I understand it correctly.
I say this because I watched Gladiator II and then watched Gladiator a couple days later and it seems like some facts in the second one have changed. Almost like they are rewriting the story. I may be way off the mark but that is how I interpreted it, but that is all I can say without saying too much since I am still a tad confused.
I haven’t seen anything with Paul Mescal in it before but this was one heck of a first impression. He is great. Of course, since I have only seen this it is important to take my opinion as face value. What I do want to say is that I don’t think this was an easy role to play. I think the first Gladiator was so iconic that the execution of a second installment has to be almost perfect.
I also feel it pertinent to mention that it took 24 years for a sequel to be released. I think that adds (positively) to the drama of it all. I also think due to that extensive length of time between the two, people’s expectations have been increased.
Pedro Pascal was an interesting choice. I wouldn’t have imagined him in a film like this. I think that is mostly due to my lack of knowledge about him. I haven’t seen him in anything; I only know him from the various clips of interviews I’ve seen or the few instagram posts on my explore page. However, I have nothing bad to say about it but I felt it important to mention because I also saw some media saying some people were only going to watch the film because Mr. Pascal was in it.
On that same spectrum, I think that was possibly also the case with Denzel Washington. He is also super popular and draws a crowd when he is in something, myself included. This can also be said about the director, Ridley Scott. He has made many famous films and I believe there are plenty of cinephiles who are fond of Mr. Scott.
Overall, I really enjoyed the film and would pay to see it again/buy the dvd. I think after watching it more and noticing new things that the films will be even better together. With that being said I am obviously excited to watch it again.
I just want to make a semi-irrelevant note here, but I have been into the movie theater movie merchandise, like the cups and popcorn buckets (among other things). So, I got the Gladiator II cup when I went to Regal and it is so good. It is a study cup and it’s rather large. For this film, the lid of the cup was a gladiator helmet made out of hard plastic. It is so cool. I was surprised and impressed by how good the material it was made out of was. I fear I may have started a habit of buying merchandise at the theater.