“Gladiator I” was widely regarded as one of the best movies ever made and filmed. In May of 2023, a sequel to the first movie was announced. From the jump, this movie faced high expectations from fans. This came from how much technology has advanced and how much more people are willing to spend money on films.
Personally my favorite movie of all time was the original “Gladiator” so the sequel had a lot to live up to.
Multiple film companies had ventured towards trying to make a sequel in the past including DreamWorks Pictures, who wanted to make a “Gladiator” sequel in 2006.
While most knew that this movie wouldn’t be as good as the first one, from start to finish, this movie held the attention of the audience. The characters are immediately identified, and the audience gets a sense for the plot.
In the plot of the first movie, a general of the Roman army was sold as a slave. He worked his way up as a gladiator in the arena and tried to reduce the power of the emperor. It seemed like the filmmakers wanted to keep that same premise for the sequel but with more of an overarching twist on the story. This creates added suspense at the end of the film.
This movie was great, but was it worth an Oscar or a 5 star rating?? Personally, I do not think so. Although it’s a really great movie, it will never rank anywhere near the first one in terms of greatness or how iconic it is. It absolutely could be nominated for an Oscar, unfortunately, it’s not good enough to win the award.
In the year 2000, “Gladiator I” sold $43 million in tickets on its opening weekend; today, that is worth around $78.5 million. For the opening weekend of the sequel, “Gladiator II” only sold about $55.5 million, indicating there was less excitement or anticipation for the sequel.
The sets and actors in this film are amazing. Multiple big-named actors such as Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal and Joseph Quinn all have big roles in the film, while the main character is represented by Paul Mescal.
Mescal has acted in a few films in the past few years such as “All of us Strangers,” “Aftersun,” “FOE” and “Carmen”.
The set design and computer-generated imagery (CGI) alone were enough to make this movie a 9/10. It was beautiful in its representation of ancient Rome. However, with a budget of $310 million, how can it not be?
While “Gladiator II” obviously kept the same concept of a character fighting for a powerful cause, there is a completely different story in this movie, which creates much more tension for the audience.
Everything that happens in the film happens for a reason. Every little detail is utilized to build a better story and ties together in the ending.
The tone of this film is phenomenal, it instantly grabs your attention, and it becomes hard to look away. There are a mix of fast- and slow-paced action in the movie, which paces the overall film well. However, there were a few scenes that felt a little long, hence why the movie is 2 hours and 28 minutes long.
The music was one of the only lackluster aspects of the film. It seemed like some of the music was just thrown in and did not connect to the film. For instance, in some of the fight scenes, the music ruined the overall intensity of the scene. Even if it was just in the background, it seemed out of the way. I would have rather there had been no music than what they played in the background of some of the scenes.
Overall, this film was better than expected. It offered a change to the story that still connected to the first film. The actors played their parts very well and the directors did a great job casting each role.. It is obvious that the directors knew what they had to live up to and made the most of the opportunity.
While I give this film a 7/10 and an overall decent rating, in the end, no film will ever top the original “Gladiator” movie.
