Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Gladiator II (2024)

12/10/2024

Gladiator II (2024) - Scott delivers another rousing spectacle

♥♥♥♥

Six central characters and a rhinoceros involved fight scene are teased on this flashy poster for Ridley Scott's Gladiator II

Roman general Acacius overtakes Numibia in North Africa and enslaves the warrior Hanno. Swearing vengeance, Hanno becomes a gladiator but comes to more realizations while fighting for his survival.

Gladiator II is written by David Scarpa (The Last Castle (2001)), with Peter Craig (12 Strong (2008)), and co-produced and directed by English master filmmaker Ridley Scott (The Duellists (1977)), whose 29th feature it is. It is the sequel to Scott's masterpiece, Gladiator (2000).

Paul Mescal (The Lost Daughter (2021)) smiles too much and is somehow too daintily attractive as his character, but he's in a well-oiled, mammoth-sized machine here that is a highly enjoyable throw-back to the macho universe of ancient Rome. Derek Jacobi (The Sandman (2022, TV-series)) and Connie Nielsen (Nobody (2021)) of the original return here, SPOILER and the regal Nielsen musters up most of the film's emotional heft in scenes with her returned son Hanno/Lucius. The weight is limited, but the film has a great ace in Hanno's gladiator mentor Macrinus, played with delicious verve by Denzel Washington (The Equalizer (2014)), the Marlon Brando of our age. SPOILER Macrinus is by far the most interesting character in the film, a sly, chameleonic figure who turns out to be an unruly, self-serving master manipulator. And Washington gets a fantastic death scene in the brutal Gladiator II.

There's more action than in the original, and Scott throws in monstrous baboons, a rhino and sharks in the Colosseum, effectively making sure that everyone is aware that this is a fictional adventure with only very dim links to actual history. Great costumes distinguish the film, which also revolves around the story of the volatile, easily influenced twin emperors Geta and Caracalla.

Scott continues his recent stride with a ramming hammer of a sword and sandals spectacle, not without blemishes, and not as impacting as the original by a longshot but a damn good time at the multiplex it sure is.

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Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 250 mil. $

Box office: 368.5 mil. $ and counting

= Too early to say

[Gladiator II premiered 18 October (Los Angeles) and runs 148 minutes. Sequel ideas and scripts were in the works shortly after the first film's premiere in 2000, for many years revolving around a returning star Russell Crowe either brought back to life or in a fantasy/religious story in purgatory. Shooting took place from May - July 2023 and from December 2023 - January 2024, interrupted involuntarily by the 2023 Hollywood labor strikes, with reshoots in June 2024, in Malta, Morocco and in England, including in London. Scott has stated that he rented back his Kingdom of Heaven (2005) sets from the Moroccan government, which he had sold to them for 10$ after wrapping that film since dismantling them would cost more. The film reportedly received the largest tax rebate in EU history of 46.6 mil. € from the Maltese state, bringing its monstrous 310 mil. $ cost down to 250 mil. $. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release Wicked, to a 55 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remains in the top 5. The mega-budgeted film still have a very long way before it may reach black numbers. It is nominated for 2 Golden Globes and has won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Scott has talked of a number 3 but is first turning to other projects. He is set to return with Bee Gees movie You Should Be Dancing. Mescal returns in The History of Sound (2025); Washington in High and Low. Gladiator II is certified fresh at 72 % at Rotten Tomatoes with a 6.60/10 average rating.]

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Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (16-24)