Gladiator II (2024) - Scott delivers another rousing spectacle

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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 triumphant 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, SPOILER and the regal Nielsen musters up most of the film's emotional heft in scenes with her returned son Hanno/Lucius. The weight of these scenes 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.

 

Related posts:

Ridley Scott: 2023 in films - according to Film Excess

Napoleon (2023) - Scott's best in many years, a thumping epic

2021 in films - according to Film Excess  

House of Gucci (2021) - Gaga slays as Patrizia Reggiani 

The Martian (2015) - Scott and Damon triumph with hopeful sci-fi adventure  

Prometheus (2012) or, Even Then, Space Eggs Were Bad News
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Robin Hood (2010) - R. Scott's grand film of the English legend 

2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2008 in films - according to Film Excess 

Body of Lies (2008) - R. Scott's terror actioner is a fatiguing turkey 

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

2007 in films - according to Film Excess 

American Gangster (2007) - Great American - now black - gangster picture
A Good Year (2006) - Ridley Scott likes Provence

Matchstick Men (2003) - Great Cage job highlights entertaining Scott crime dramedy 

Hannibal (2001) - Grisly highlights in low-yielding Scott sequel 

2000 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Gladiator (2000) - Experience the grandeur of the Roman Empire in Scott's dramatic masterpiece

G.I. Jane (1997) or, The Amazing Seal Woman! 

Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Blade Runner (1982) director's cut - Visual extravaganza, great SF 

Top 10: Best future-set movies

Top 10: Best Twentieth Century Fox titles 

Top 10: Best first-of-franchise movies
Alien (1979) or, Space Eggs Are Bad News

 

 

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.]

What do you think of Gladiator II?

Pompeii (2014) - Another mixed action bag from Anderson

♥♥

 

+ Most Deserved Flop of the Year  + Most Expensive Flop of the Year: 42.88 mil. $ range 

 

A loving embrace in front of a gorgeous display of apocalyptic volcanic eruption makes up this striking poster for Paul W.S. Anderson's Pompeii

A British army leader visits the Roman city of Pompeii and makes an impression at the local gladiator stadium, until Mount Vesuvius' volcano erupts and in a short timespan turns the entire city into a wasteland of lava, fire and ashes.

  

Pompeii is written by Janet Scott Batchler, Lee Batchler (Batman Forever (1995), both) and Michael Robert Johnson (Sherlock Holmes (2009)) and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson (Shopping (1994)). It is based on the actual destruction of Pompeii in Campania, Italy in 79 AD.

Anderson is and always will be a craftsman in the filmmaking business and specifically the action genre, - but he's no inspired nor a great craftsman. Here he throws beefcakes, forgettable Emily Browning (Golden Exits (2017)), a tsunami and Kiefer Sutherland (Flatliners (2017)) as a sibilant, deeply villainous Brit, (you try if you can abstract from who he really is here), after the fatal demise of Pompeii.

The volcanic eruption is handled in good-looking CGI, while other parts of the contraption, - especially when actors from green screen recordings get injected into designed surroundings, - look unconvincing. It is putting it mildly to say that there is no grand story spun behind this tapestry of destruction, and Kit Harrington's (Brimstone (2016)) delicious locks of hair and razor-cut abs are about all you can admire him for in Pompeii. Carrie-Anne Moss (Jessica Jones (2015-19)) is attractive (and seems tired) in a non-role, while Jared Harris (Chernobyl (2019, miniseries)) and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Wetlands (2017)) manage to instill some personality into their characters and be actually good here.

 

Related posts:

 

Paul W.S. Anderson: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Alien vs. Predator/AVP (2004) - No one wins with Anderson's fundamentally bad monster clash

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 80-100 mil. $ (different accounts)

Box office: 117.8 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.30 times its cost)

[Pompeii premiered 18 February (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and runs 105 minutes. Shooting took place from March - July 2013 in Italy and in Toronto, Ontario. The film opened #3, behind holdover hit The Lego Movie and fellow new release 3 Days to Kill, to a 10.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 23.2 mil. $ (19.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 15.6 mil. $ (13.2 %) and Russia with 11.3 mil. $ (10 %). The film additionally made an estimated 8.9 mil. $ on the North-American home video market. Anderson returned with Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016). Harrington returned with a voice performance in How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) and with a physical performance in Testament of Youth (2014). Pompeii is rotten at 27 % with a 4.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Pompeii? 

Hercules Against the Moon Men/Maciste e la Regina di Samar (1964) - Maciste becomes Hercules in Franco-Italian trash

[ZERO]

 

A painted, amazing-looking, sensationalist - and wildly over-selling - poster for Giacomo Gentilomo's Hercules Against the Moon Men

Hercules, strange 'moon men' and a beautiful woman.

 

Hercules Against the Moon Men is written by Arpad DeRiso (The Last of the Vikings/L'Ultimo dei Vikinghi (1961)) and Giovanni Scolaro (Erik il Vichingo (1965)), with Angelo Sangermano (L'Inconveniente (1976)) and co-writer/director Giacomo Gentilomo (Condottieri (1937)) contributing story elements. The original title translates to 'Maciste and the Queen of Samar'.

This is a dubbed version of a Franco-Italian adventure romance, which switches out the local Maciste lead strongman character with Hercules, an established franchise icon. As the plot outline above suggests, I simply didn't understand it. A long part of the film is recordings of volcanic eruptions. Following are several minutes of the characters fumbling around in a dust storm.

Hercules Against the Moon Men seems inadmissible as a film; there's simply nothing positive to say about it. Its unimportance leads one to almost consider it non-existing in affect.

 

Related posts:

 

Other Hercules movies: Hercules (2014) - Ratner and Johnson's forgettable noisemaker 

Hercules in New York (1970) - Arnie's big, bulging debut 

Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia (1964) - New US actor in hopeless Hercules effort 

Hercules and the Captive Women/Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide/Hercules and the Conquest of Atlantis/Hercules Conquers Atlantis (1961) - Reg Park debuts in rotten peplum pic 

Hercules Unchained/Ercole e la Regina di Lidia (1959) - Spaghetti decadence never fades

 

 

Watch a short promo for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[Hercules Against the Moon Men was released 27 June (Italy) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place in Italy, including in Rome. Details concerning the release and performance of the film are not readily available and possibly simply lost. Gentilomo retired from filmmaking with the release of the film, after 37 credits, but lived another 36 years. Sergio Ciani (Samson (1961)), billed as 'Alan Steel', returned in Sansone e il Tesoro degli Incas (1964). 1.9k+ IMDb users have given Hercules Against the Moon Men a 2.9/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Hercules Against the Moon Men?

Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia (1964) - New US actor in hopeless Hercules effort

[ZERO]

This dramatic and colorful poster for Domenico Paolella's Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia seems to indicate that the film is in 3D (it isn't)

Few are with Hercules! And many are against him!

Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia is written by Luciano Martino (Il Tifoso, l'Arbitro e il Calciatore (1982)) and co-writer/director Domenico Paolella (Gli Ultimi della Strada (1940)). The Italian title translates to 'Hercules against the tyrant of Babylon'.

The short, simple outline above seems to more or less be the plot of this bizarre mess. The oiled-up Hercules (Peter Lupus (Police Squad! (1982, TV-series)) billed as Rock Stevens) goes through the film without a shadow of humanity, - his facial expression is vacant, as he for instance ignores the omnipresent slaves.

Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia mainly consists of seemingly endless, wretchedly choreographed fights, as Hercules meets and faces various antagonists: In the end these are 'boosted' with the use of archive footage of a horseback attack. The script is about as agile as a tree trunk. The photography (by Augusto Tiezzi (Il Mostro dell'Isola (1954))) is helpless. The acting - and dubbing - deplorable. Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia makes you wonder if Hercules presides over the worst movie franchise in the world?

 

Related posts:

 

Other Hercules movies: Hercules (2014) - Ratner and Johnson's forgettable noisemaker 

Hercules in New York (1970) - Arnie's big, bulging debut 

Hercules and the Captive Women/Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide/Hercules and the Conquest of Atlantis/Hercules Conquers Atlantis (1961) - Reg Park debuts in rotten peplum pic 

Hercules Unchained/Ercole e la Regina di Lidia (1959) - Spaghetti decadence never fades

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia was released 25 December (Italy) and runs 90 minutes. Little is noted of the production, which seems to only have been theatrically released domestically in Italy and in France. The cost and gross details are not to be found online. The film is in public domain and can be seen and downloaded free and legally right here. Paolella returned with Golia alla Conquista di Bagdad (1965); which was also Lupus' next film, in which he played Goliath! 517 IMDb users have given Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia a 4.2/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia?

Hercules and the Captive Women/Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide/Hercules and the Conquest of Atlantis/Hercules Conquers Atlantis (1961) - Reg Park debuts in rotten peplum pic

[ZERO]

 

Almost pornographic sexploitation-style poster for Vittorio Cottafavi's Hercules and the Captive Women

A woman is saved from some 'monsters', and Hercules almost goes to war in the city Atlantis, (which hasn't sunk yet.)

 

Hercules and the Captive Women is written by Sandro Continenza (The Inglorious Bastards/Quel Maledetto treno Blindato (1978)), Duccio Tessari (Marco Polo (1962)), Nicolò Ferrari (Laura Nuda (1961)) and co-writer/director Vittorio Cottafavi (I Nostri Sogni (1943)).

What exactly this film is about may be difficult to say. It is bad to the point of being demented, and especially the infernally noisy 'score' (by Gino Marinuzzi Jr. (Appointment for Murder/Amo un Assassino (1951)) and Armando Trovajoli (Gangsters (1992))) rests as a curse over Hercules and the Captive Women. 

The work done here is dreadful behind the camera, script, acting and special effects. There's also an enormous waste of resources (sets, costumes etc.) in this utter trash.

 

Related posts:

 

Other Hercules movies: Hercules (2014) - Ratner and Johnson's forgettable noisemaker 

Hercules in New York (1970) - Arnie's big, bulging debut 

Hercules Unchained/Ercole e la Regina di Lidia (1959) - Spaghetti decadence never fades

In this short 1951 video clip, Reg Park is named Mr. Universe

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[Hercules and the Captive Women was released 19 August (Italy) and runs 101 minutes. Shooting took place in Rome, Italy. It was released re-edited, rescored, retitled and with a new title sequence in North America in 1963. Cottafavi returned with 13 TV movies prior to his theatrical return with 100 Horsemen (1964). Reg Park (Hercules the Avenger/La Sfida dei Giganti (1965)) returned in Hercules in the Haunted World/Ercole al Centro della Terra (1961); Fay Spain (Gunslinger (1961, TV-series)) in 4 TV-series prior to her theatrical return in Black Gold (1962). 1.4k+ IMDb users have given Hercules and the Captive Women a 4.1/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Hercules and the Captive Women?

Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules/Anthar l'Invincibile/Soraya Reina Del Desierto (1964) - Margheriti's awful desert walk

ZERO

The cheap and sexually unsubtle poster for Antonio Margheriti's Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules

QUICK REVIEW:

The evil Ganor seizes power over a sultan kingdom, but the rebellious princess Soraya will escape and pose a revolt!

This film, with the wretched English title Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules, is the 8th from Italian shlock director Antonio Margheriti (Yor, the Hunter from the Future/Il Mondo di Yor (1983)). The extremely poor image quality on the DVD prints of it in circulation today do not help it any, but it would be a true bomb nonetheless. 
None of the 'characters' are presented or speak for enough time that we really learn anything at all about them, while dull fights continually break out. Devil of the Desert is a bunch of pointless nonsense without any mitigating qualities. An ugly desert walk!
Note also that it can't even really count as a Hercules movie, because despite the name appearing in the title, there are no actors credited as Hercules in it. The film was written by Arturo Rígel (Mentirosa (1962)), André Tabet (The Secret Killer/Le Vampire de Düsseldorf (1965)) and Guido Malatesta (Fire over Rome/L'Incendio di Roma (1965)).

Watch a five-minute clip from the movie here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
[Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules was released June 27 (Italy) and runs 114 minutes (Italy)/93 minutes (US). The only number concerning its release I can find is that a million people paid admission to see it in Spain, which is amazing and must make it a commercial success just from this one market. The (especially past) appeal of the peplum genre, even in its worst iterations, continues to amaze. Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules has been given a 3.8/ average rating by 180 users.]

What do you think of Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules?

Hercules Unchained/Ercole e la Regina di Lidia (1959) - Spaghetti decadence never fades

♥♥♥

Look! Someone once offered you to see Pietro Francisci's Hercules Unchained in a cinema for just 10 cents! ... boy, those must have been the days!

Here's a movie for you:

Hercules goes on a diplomatic adventure with his pal Ulysses and wife Iole and quickly lands in deep trouble, as he drinks from a well of forgetfulness and therefore forgets everything the mission and himself are all about!

Director Pietro Francisci (Hercules/La Fatiche de Ercole (1958)) has a long list of tall adventure films to his name, and he is probably a good exponent for the kind of filmmaker that Italian cinema's prominent newcomers at the time, like Luchino Visconti and Roberto Rosselini, rebelled against in their neo-realist films of the 40s and early 50s. Those films are generally better than this kind, just to make that clear. But here we are, still, with good old Hercules, undoubtedly the silver screen's favorite Greek god. This is the second of 19 (!) Italian Hercules movies made from 1958-65, which are part of the Italian peplum tradition. - The genre, also known as the swords-and-sandal movie, derives its name from the scant tunic-style Greek/Roman garment often worn by the heroes of the films.
Hercules Unchained is good fun, if you have an interest in film history and/or can enjoy a big costume adventure film that obviously doesn't compare to what is possible in the genre today in terms of scope or effects.
There is in its very beginning a very bizarre song sung by Hercules' wife Iole, (Sylva Koscina (The House of Exorcism (1975))), who obviously just lip-syncs some other singer with a much deeper voice's recording. It looks bizarre, and Koscina's mouthing is very off.
The script, by Ennio De Concini (Taras Bulba, il Cosacco (1963)) and Francisci, based on two old-Greek plays based on Greek myths and Francisci's story idea, and tone of the film has the flexibility and predictability of a wood log, but Hercules Unchained still manages to stay entertaining; through its many oiled bodies, (Steve Reeves (War of the Trojans/La Leggenda di Enea (1962)) playing Hercules is in quite spectacular shape himself), homo-erotic scenes of massaging, long dances and fights, - even a few quite well-made ones with live tigers, - and also simply due to the pompous scale of it all. The costumes, make-up and hair of Unchained are all very over-the-top and, in effect, very Italian.
If you can handle lines like, "By the way, what is my name?" (coming, of course, from the amnesia-stricken title hero), and you generally lust for myths and corny adventure, Hercules Unchained will not disappoint you.
The film's cinematography, some effects and second unit directing work was done by Mario Bava (Black Sabbath/I Tre Volti Della Paura (1963), director), who soon after became the 'Baron of Blood' and one of the great Italian horror filmmakers of all time.
The Eastman colors of Unchained look vibrant and alive. - Unfortunately, the version I saw was not restored, and I am not sure that a better version even exists.
In probably the film's best fight scene, Hercules battles Anteo the giant played by Primo Carnera (Mighty Joe Young (1949)), the real life heavy weight boxing champ, in his last of 21 short, TV and film acting credits.
Reeves has later told of his experience with director Francisci that in one instance, where Reeves refused to swing the apparently real chains (!) hard enough over his enemies so as not to hurt them, Francisi had said; "If they don't get hurt, they don't get paid!" - Not surprisingly, hunky Reeves didn't do any more Hercules films after this one.

In lieu of a proper trailer, which isn't currently on Youtube, watch a wonderful excerpt from the movie here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 2.5 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertain (but likely a big or huge hit)
[Hercules Unchained was released 14 February (Italy) and runs 97 minutes. Shooting took place at the Titanus Appia Studios in Rome, Italy. The film was almost certainly a big hit. Besides its substantial American run, Unchained was also the third biggest film at the British box office in 1960. Film critic Howard Hughes, who has chronicled Italian cinema in his book Cinema Italiano - The Complete Guide From Classics to Cult (2011), has stated that this film is better than Francisci's predecessor from the year before, because it has a better script, "punchier action" and more convincing acting. Francisci returned with Siege of Syracuse/L'Assedio di Siracusa (1960). Reeves returned in The White Warrior/Agi Murad il Diavolo Bianco (1959). Hercules Unchained has a 2.6/5 audience score, based on 1,737 ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.]

Greek myths in movies, - what is your favorite?
What do you think of Hercules Unchained?
If you locate a restored version of Hercules Unchained, shoot me a comment with a link to it, - thanks!