Gladiator II (2024)

Gladiator II is the direct sequel to the 2000s modern classic.

Ridley Scott returns to direct. Someone in the marketing department needs to be fired as I went into the film thinking it would be horrible. It was great to get David Scarpa to write, as the story and the screenplay were better than expected. He wrote Napoleon and did the screenplay for The Day the Earth Stood Still. The CGI could have cooked a tad bit longer too.

The film is not without its flaws, Yuval Gonen has stupid tattoos on her face that are more distracting than immersive and the romance between her and Paul Mescal is not believable. Speaking of Mescal, he struggles at the beginning of the film but finds his own towards the end. He starts at a four and ends at a seven.

Pedro Pascal plays a complicated and well-written character as was Denzel Washington. Both Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger were just annoying. The character of Ravi played by Alexander Karim was unnecessary and extended this film another thirty minutes. It sits at 2 hours and 28 minutes.

The film won't earn as much money as Wicked but it was surprisingly the better film. Result: B

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