Gladiator II
The long awaited sequel to Gladiator releases on November 22nd. Ridley Scott waited 24 years release the sequel to his Oscar winning film. While the wait may not be quite worth it, this new film is certainly entertaining.
The reality is that following up a film that is as iconic as the first Gladiator film was always going to be a daunting task. Rarely do sequels to films that win Best Picture work super well. Don’t let that stop you from going to see this film though. It’s a new story and it’s very entertaining. The storyline looked eerily similar in the previews, but actually takes on its own identity. The characters aren’t developed quite as well as the first film. There is a lot more attention on a smaller amount of characters.
The emperor characters who were twins in this film certainly fell short of Joaquin Phoenix from the original. But again that’s being compared to a truly iconic role. The roles of the other gladiators weren’t nearly as focused on and little was developed there. This made the second film feel shorter because of the lack of development, but in reality it was only about 7 minutes shorter.
While it wasn’t as iconic as the original film, it still answered the question “Are you not entertained?” Yes, yes I was.
Overall 7/10
Lead image courtesy of Paramount Pictures
