Pretty silly… but a spectacle

Let the games (re)begin! Ridley Scott is tireless, regardless of the fact that he turns 30 on November 87. While his alumni are mostly dead or retired, Scott has no intention of letting up: in the last four years alone, he's directed four big-budget productions (The last duel, Gucci's, Napoleon i Gladiator II - the latter will be discussed in the review you are reading), and there are more films and series planned that he will produce and/or direct. Scott has been making demanding productions for a long time that, in the aggregate, usually don't have much that's fresh and exciting to offer. His latest film, freshly arrived in our and the world's cinemas, Gladiator II, is certainly better than the previous two, which are difficult to watch Gucci's i Napoleon, but clearly lags behind Scott's works from the "golden period" such as The eighth passenger, Exterminator, Thelma and Louise i Fall of the Black Hawk. After all, Scott's best films were made twenty, thirty, forty years ago, and although there have been some of his directors worth mentioning in recent times (Circle of lies, Martian), there are many more big misses (Good year, Robin Hood, Counselor, The price of life, Exodus: Gods and kings).

...

Scott made two prequels at one time The eighth passenger (Prometheus i Koven), so it is Gladiator II actually the first "real" sequel that he directed. Original Gladiator from 2000 was a complete movie that didn't need a sequel, and everyone who saw it knows that. But, as it usually happens, Hollywood producers decided to reheat the "old moussaka" and invested more than 200 million dollars in this epic of two and a half hours. Will they get a return on their investment? Possibly, since films like this one are lacking in the offer. In terms of production, Gladiator II is a very lavish film, made just for the big screen, a spectacle that offers five or six brilliantly choreographed fight scenes in and out of the arena, including a section where gladiators in the Colosseum fight against sharks (yes, you read that right - gladiator sharks are part of this film). Although some of the computer effects could and should have been better (the CGI monkeys are very unconvincing, for example), overall, Scott really delivers a spectacle and a reason to pay the increasingly expensive cinema ticket. Mostly a pretty silly spectacle, but a spectacle nonetheless.

Although it arrives in theaters 24 years after its predecessor, the action of the new film takes place 16 years after the events described in the first To the gladiator. The main character of the new film is Lucius (played by the leggy Paul Mescal, so far known for notable roles in acclaimed indie productions such as All of us strangers i After the Sun, just like in the series Normal people). The city where Lucius found peace and happiness was conquered, by order of the Roman emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracella (Fred Hechinger), General Acacia (Pedro Pascal), so Lucius, after the heroic death of his wife Arishat (Yuval Gonen), captured and taken to Rome. Lucia is bought out by the wealthy Macrinus (Denzel Washington), who has diabolical plans of his own. And there is - we must not forget that - the beautiful Lucilla, played by the Danish actress Connie Nielsen, as in the first part, who is now married to General Acacius and wants to overthrow the tyrants together with him (one of the conspirators is played by a veteran Derek Jacobi, who interpreted the episode in the first film as well).

From the first frame to the last, it is clear that it is Gladiator II a film that creatively has no reason to exist, and was made for one reason only: to cash in on the old glory. Of course, this is neither the first nor the last time that this happens, sequels are a common Hollywood practice, with the fact that it is especially awkward to make a sequel after a break of almost a quarter of a century, and without two main characters (Russell Crowe as Maximus, Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus). But once the decision was made to make a sequel, it could have been done a little more elegantly - especially when it comes to a script by David Scarpa, with whom Scott has already collaborated on Appreciate life. i Napoleon.

The scenes of gladiatorial confrontations are spectacular (although not as convincing as in the first part), but the story that connects them is stretched, in the realm of the already seen and expected. Gladiator II it has the narrative structure of a telenovela, all with the "lost/found child/heir" motif as one of its trump cards. The links to the first film hinder the sequel more than they benefit it. Everything is set up to resemble the first film, with new characters set up to evoke old heroes (Washington replaces Oliver Reed, Quinn and Hatchinger are there instead of Phoenix, etc.). As for the acting, veteran Denzel Washington and the ever-in-demand Pedro Pascal are excellent, just right, while Connie Nielsen is given plenty of room to give her Lucilla a multi-layered and satisfying roundness. Paul Mescal is not Russell Crowe, he doesn't have that strength and robustness, and in this particular case, any comparison goes against the younger man. Mezcal is not bad, the martyr tries, but it quickly becomes clear that the role entrusted to him is not the right one. The rest of the actors are functional, no one is particularly dressed up, although the episodic roles are written in a typical way and God knows what can be done there.

Well, now... There is a story about Gladiator II something else interesting. The decadence of ancient Rome and its tyrants seems quite familiar/recognizable in the context of the current political situation, both in the world and in our country. A government that has lost contact with the people and the only thing it wants is to squeeze and squeeze and squeeze, regardless of the fact that it already lives in abundance, is doomed to fail. Each subsequent move of the rulers is more arrogant, crazier and more desperate, until they finally cross the line and start a war that will cost everything dearly. That's why, I have to admit, it's the end for me Gladiator II was quite cathartic, although it was not primarily because of the film but because of the context. Scott is, of course, willing to direct the third part as well, which is a "threat" that he will certainly carry out if Gladiator II performed well at the box office. The film started showing in Serbia last weekend and has already been seen by around 27000 cinemagoers, which signals that we have a hit.