‘By far the best popcorn film of the year’

Paul Mescal is the “captivating center” of Ridley Scott’s long-awaited Gladiator sequel, which balances emotional drama and social themes with all-out action spectacle.

how can i do that do not have Do you like movies with swords and sandals, sharks in a flooded Roman Colosseum, Denzel Washington in flowing robes, and Paul Mescal biting a baboon? Ridley Scott’s breezy, fun sequel to the Best Picture Oscar winner nearly a quarter of a century ago, Gladiator is both serious and camp. Filled with spectacle and great performances, Gladiator II is the best popcorn movie of the year.

Mescal, a counterintuitive choice considering his sensitive role ordinary person And Aftersun is the captivating centerpiece of the film, holding it together with the same power and magnetism that Russell Crowe brought to the original. The sequel doesn’t balance emotion and action as perfectly as its predecessor, with decapitations and sword fights almost overwhelming the characters, but it comes close enough.

These comparisons are not unnecessary, as Gladiator II is full of echoes of the original, which pitted Crowe’s gladiator Maximus against the dastardly Caesar Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) in a deadly duel in the Colosseum. The son of Maximus and Commodus’ sister Lucilla (Connie Nielsen, returning to the role here), Lucius is at the time a young boy sent away from Rome for his own safety. Fifteen years later, Mescal is in the role this time, leaner than usual but thankfully not swelled to the cartoonish proportions of the Marvel character.

Lucius comes of age in Numidia, North Africa, and soon finds himself at war with Roman invaders. Scott is in complete command of the action scenes, and he emphasizes this with a gorgeous opening battle. The Numidians launch fireballs at the approaching Roman ships, Roman arrows fly against the Numidian battlements, Lucius’s warrior wife is killed, Lucius is captured and sent to Rome, and the imperial general Acacius He swore revenge on (Pedro Pascal).

The Rome he returns to is more colorful and sinister than ever. Now there is an eerie vision of two decadent emperors, twins ruling together in defiance of their people, pasty white face makeup and heavy eyeliner. Joseph Quinn gives a particularly chilling, quietly intense and frightening performance as Geta, the wiser and therefore more dangerous of the two. Fred Hechinger plays the wild-eyed, out-of-control Carasella, Michael Corleone’s Fredo in Geta. Washington will play the mysterious Macrinus, a wealthy businessman and gladiator owner who buys out Lucius. With jeweled rings on every finger and a gold chain around his neck, Washington approaches the role with absolute enthusiasm and overacting as Macrinus seeks power. But every once in a while, he pulls back on his performance to reveal the genius beneath his cocky personality. Fans of Pascal may be disappointed by his relatively small role and subdued performance. Even when it turns out that Acacius is married to Lucilla and shares her desire to depose the insane and bloodthirsty emperor, it doesn’t affect him much.

In the big action arena scenes, Scott goes all out. The Romans come in on a rhinoceros. The editing dynamically depicts tigers and baboons being unleashed on Lucius and the other gladiators, who are called barbarians. Lucius is so ferocious that he munches on the baboon’s furry arm. Viewed at close range, these baboons are clearly fake and are the weak link in normally slick special effects. Some of the distant backgrounds also look completely CGI-produced, but Scott directs the action with enough variability to overcome those minor glitches. his latest location napoleon (2023) was large and sluggish; house of gucci (2021) A ridiculous mess, Gladiator II has the brilliant pacing of Scott’s best films, including the classics alien (1979) and blade runner (1982).

In smaller episodes, Scott knows when to give Mezcal a shining close-up, and Lucius’s determination and anger exude. That’s especially true of his defiant conversation with Macrinus, who doesn’t yet know that Lucius is the heir to the Empire, but wonders why this gladiator can quote Virgil. Mescal’s intelligent performance elevates the film beyond the violent combat.

And some of the violence is emotional. As revealed in the movie’s trailer, most viewers know that Lucius is Maximus’ son, so we’re way ahead of most of the characters. But one of the most heartening episodes occurs when Lucilla recognizes the gladiator as her son and visits him in his prison-like cell.

The level of camp increases as the movie moves towards the ultimate battle. There’s a scene with Macrinus in the Roman Senate and a beheaded head (no spoilers, not Washington’s head) and it’s just ridiculous. At times, Washington and the Emperor twins seem to be participating in their own little camping extravaganza, but rather than dragging the rest of the movie out, the style is a little more interesting than Gladiator II. It has stuck as another sign that something is meant to be.

But beneath the crowd-pleasing surface, the film’s themes of political power, who wields it, and how, are powerful and purposeful, even if Scott carefully weaves them into his colorful spectacle. It is something that has. Question from new york times If you look at his connections to the Roman Empire and today’s political world, Scott answered bluntly: “Yes,” he added, “if we don’t see this, things will get worse.” The film points out some of Lucius’ questions about what Rome values. “Is this the attitude towards Roman heroes?” Lucius shouts from the arena when one of them is killed.

That social theme is also evident in the first Gladiator, in which the civic-minded Senator Gracchus (Derek Jacobi, who appears briefly in the sequel) underestimates the shallowness of a mob easily appeased with bread and circuses. I’m warning you not to rate it. “He will bring death to them, but they will love him for it,” he says of Commodus, who only serves as a distraction from the game. In Gladiator II, Lucilla says, “The people are tired of madness and tyranny.” Which one is right is an open question in the sequel, where Lucius talks about his grandfather’s dream of a Roman republic and asks the people, “Will you rebuild that dream together?”

With any luck, Scott might have an answer. he said. hollywood reporter He reportedly has an idea for Gladiator III that was inspired by The Godfather II. From his lips to the ears of the Roman gods.

Gladiator II will be released in the UK on November 15th and in the US on November 22nd.