{"id":30111,"date":"2024-11-22T00:36:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T08:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=30111"},"modified":"2024-11-22T00:36:01","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T08:36:01","slug":"gladiator-ii-puts-on-a-show-but-doesnt-match-its-predecessor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=30111","title":{"rendered":"GLADIATOR II Puts on a Show, But Doesn\u2019t Match Its Predecessor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 148 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature film from Paramount Pictures will be playing\nexclusively in theaters on November 22nd<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the year 2000, the historical epic Gladiator<\/em>\narrived in theaters and became a critical and commercial success. The story\nfollowed general turned warrior Maximus Meridius (Russell Crowe), who ends up\nseeking revenge on the Roman emperor responsible for his family\u2019s demise. The\nmovie was intended to be a summer blockbuster, but surprised many by staying in\ntheaters for nearly a year and winning Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best\nActor.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, everyone who saw the film was left with one\nburning question\u2026 what happened to the son of Meridius? Okay, truthfully no one\nwas wondering about this, but the makers of Gladiator II<\/em> came to the\nconclusion that it was an interesting enough idea to warrant a sequel. And\nbringing back the original film\u2019s director Ridley Scott and a couple of minor\ncharacters allows for some connective tissue between films. The movie is slick\nand has some entertaining moments, but those who admire the original will find\nthat this follow-up, while passable, doesn\u2019t match its predecessor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Set 16 years after the events of Gladiator<\/em>, cruel\ntwin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) have taken\nover the throne and seek to expand their territory. Son of Meridius and secret\nheir to the Roman Empire Lucius Verus (Paul Mescal) is living a quiet life in a\nfaraway province with wife Arishat (Yuval Gonen). Their peaceful existence is\nshattered when the Roman army, under the command of General Marcus Acadius\n(Pedro Pascal), ultimately invades and causes tragedy. Verus is sold into\nslavery under Macrinus (Denzel Washington), who sees his fighting abilities.\nThe protagonist becomes a gladiator and fights his way to the Colosseum in\nRome, determined to get revenge on Acadius. But there is other plotting afoot,\nwith several characters hoping to usurp Geta and Caracalla and control the\nRoman Empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movie features a solid cast and all of the performers do\nhelp sell the occasionally silly material. Mescal is a likable hero and Verus\u2019\nmotivations are clear and simple from the outset. Washington appears to be\nhaving a great time as gladiator owner Macrinus. It\u2019s entertaining to watch the\nwheeler\/dealer move up the social chain, acting as a confidante, and then\nmanipulate others in order to achieve his goals. This crafty character who\nmakes an impression. Co-star Hechinger also earns chuckles as unhinged, erratic\ntwin Caracalla, who suffers from cognitive impairment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And of course, director Scott knows how to shoot and edit\naction scenes in a dynamic manner. Early on, the elaborate invasion scene is\nimpressive to behold as an army arrives by ship and attempts to scale a massive\ndefensive wall. The final sword fight between the main hero and villain is\nexciting to watch and features a wince-inducing moment or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surprisingly, what doesn\u2019t work as effectively are a few\nother moments in gladiator arenas. Some of them include a great deal of\nnoticeable CGI effects. The gladiators are frequently fighting animals like\napes, and they never really look convincing. At one point, the Colosseum is\nflooded with water, sharks are let loose and ships sail in with battling\ngladiators. Perhaps these kinds of events did occur (although one can\u2019t imagine\nsharks surviving for more than a few seconds under these conditions), but they\u2019re\nrendered in such a way that it never looks authentic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s also an overly earnest moment between separated\nfamily members that doesn\u2019t quite land. And even a supposedly rousing final\nspeech doesn\u2019t make as strong an impression as hoped for. This may be because\nit is delivered at a relatively normal volume by one man to a standing group of\n6000 soldiers across hundreds of years (one wonders how anyone beyond the first\nrow actually heard him).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Overall, Gladiator II<\/em> possesses a layer of silliness\nthat didn\u2019t exist in the previous film. It\u2019s a generally fun picture, but one\nthat doesn\u2019t leave a lasting impact. Somehow, the original managed to mix\ngrandness with a more down-to-earth and affecting human drama. This one wants\nto deliver a bigger spectacle, yet can\u2019t help but feel like a minor let-down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 148 minutes This feature film from Paramount Pictures will be playing exclusively in theaters on November 22nd. Back in the year 2000, the historical epic Gladiator arrived in theaters and became a critical and commercial success. The story followed general turned warrior Maximus Meridius (Russell Crowe), who ends up seeking revenge on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":30112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[215,697,5736,6251,7010,7890,8361,8362,8363,8364,8365,9203,11041,15827,15884,17046,18035],"class_list":["post-30111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-215","tag-action","tag-denzel-washington","tag-drama","tag-epic","tag-fred-hechinger","tag-gladiator","tag-gladiator-ii","tag-gladiator-ii-film-review","tag-gladiator-ii-movie-review","tag-gladiator-ii-review","tag-historical-epic","tag-joseph-quinn","tag-paul-mescal","tag-pedro-pascal","tag-ridley-scott","tag-sequel"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30111\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}