Was I entertained ? Some yes, not really maybe. I have questions though, what was the point, being the most prominent one, not of the movie, the intent, rather the idea in fact, of remaking a modern popcorn classic. While it is a personal opinion that Scott peaked with Gladiator much like his main man in the original and never managed to scale the same heights again, I can only say that his desire to rehash his most successful work of the last two decades is entirely justified at a time when every other reel in your feed is about how great things were apparently in the past. The film early on reminded me of those posts on social media that talks about nostalgic pop culture elements and blows even the most mundane and mediocre from the 80s, 90s and 00s out of proportion.
Scott not just reuses the most popular and iconic lines from his original, but scenes and basic arc of the story too. From “strength and honor” to the one about one’s actions echoing in eternity, almost all the iconic lines are mouthed multiple times but rather in uninspiring ways in this so called sequel too, though it feels more like a remake with a weak lead than a sequel. The arc of the lead character and his journey to the Colosseum and the placement of the gladiatorial battles makes you wonder if you are watching a filmed version of a backup script for the original. Even the much talked about Rhino and Shark battles that Ridley purportedly wanted to do in the original but could not and managed to pull off this time around are not in the same league of any of the battles from it’s predecessor. The music is nothing to write home about either.
Though Gladiator invigorated the much dead swords and sandals genre back when it was released, bringing weak writing and a weak lead to a post Game of Thrones audience was rather suicidal I would say, now that I am done watching the film. The writers again looked like they have been watching too many memes when Denzel Washington walks up to Paul Mescal and almost says “my man” but actually says “my champion”. Connie Nielsen looked like she was rather meme-worthy in some scenes that demanded intensity. Pedro Pascal didn’t have much to do and Denzel Washington looked like the one having most fun in the midst. All things said, Paul Mescal isn’t Russel Crowe and those are not big shoes to fill, but giant ones, to be fair to him. And it’s Scott and the writers who have let him down in this sequel that won’t bore you until the final few moments and is functional but is a battle it will always lose hands down with it’s predecessor.
gopakumarpurushothaman 