Gladiator II

How is this compared to the original?

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The Good: RIght at the start this film does an incredible job immersing you in the world of Ancient Rome. You start off with a Roman battle taking place, attempting to conquer more lands in the name of Rome. Immediately after watching the battle take place, and eventually head back to Rome, I got lost in the world that was created. I became fully enveloped by the scale of everything being shown, but also in love with the small, personal nature of the main story.

What I think really aided the immersion I had with the film was the cinematography. Every shot seemed intentional. So many shots had long takes that enabled the film to show off its true expansiveness, especially around the colosseum. These shots were able to expose the grandeur of the action but also allow the action to feel real and authentic (there is one instance where they follow a character walking into the arena and it was incredible how beautiful it looked). On the other hand, there are also shots that are very close shots or shots in condensed spaces that really show how personal the events of the movie are to Paul Mescal’s character.

Most of the aforementioned shots were also aided by incredible lighting. I have no way of expressing how excellent it looked, but my wife and I hours before watching the film were joking about how bad the lighting/color in movies had been for the last few years, whether it be to poor lighting, dull colors, or everything just looking artificial. During the credits we just looked at each other and just started praising this film and how it was easily the standout movie of the year regarding lighting.

With this kind of movie, it’s also given that the action was incredible. I was genuinely impressed how they took everything from the first movie and stepped it up a notch. I love how distinctly different the action and the action sets were in this film compared to the original. I was also impressed by the acting performances in the movie. Everyone was a 10/10, but Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal were definitely the main standouts to me.

Where I think a lot more praise could be said is how this movie is not a carbon copy of the original. While I usually appreciate a sequel of an old movie, a lot of them tend to be eerily similar to the original in a way that makes the movie feel almost pointless (I’m talking about you Star Wars Episode 7). This film definitely takes inspiration from the original, but the flow, the twists, the character motivations, all are different from the original in the best way possible. All of the changes made truly elevated the movie and made it stand out (to me) even more than the original.n

Overall: This movie was so much fun to watch, and I think I prefer this to the original. I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen, and after the movie was over my wife and I both looked at each other, both mesmerized by what we just watched. If you loved the original there is no reason why you won’t love this one as much or more.

Rating: 5/5