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Review of the historical action epic sequel directed by Ridley Scott and starring Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington

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  Hello boys and girls and welcome to the concession stand here on the KB radio network. I am your host Kevin Reeds and this is the review of Ridley Scott's sequel to the 2000 historical epic Gladiator, amply titled Gladiator 2. And this film stars Paul Meskell, Pedro Pesel, Joseph Quinn, and the great Denzel Washington. As I stated before, this is a sequel 24 years in the making. The former film from the year 2000 starred Russell... crow as maximus and that film is one of my go-to films i wouldn't classify it as one of my favorite films or one of the films that just redefined a generation or something like that but it is one of those movies that you can put up there as one of the best epic films to come out in the last 30 years you know epic-wise, large-scale-wise that you would normally see back in the 50s or 60s, you know, like Ben-Hur or the Ten Commandments or Lawrence of Arabia-type epic films that I'm talking about. I would put Gladiator in that category. It was a near-perfect film and still to this day holds up. Watched it recently in anticipation of this film, the sequel. and so it still holds up so what can this film do let me just first start off by saying this is a film that i wasn't like over the moon excited for because i felt that gladiator from 2000 was pretty much wrapped up in a nice shiny bowl for everybody you know everybody left the theater pretty happy with that film i i was i mean what else can you tell out of this story uh spoilers uh maximus dies at the end rome seemed to be on the right track after that i mean what else could we tell out of this and to pick up where this story is uh picking up at it was kind of confusing in a way but i was willing to give it a chance you know uh uh ridley scott one of hollywood's staple uh directors you know i mean the dude is amazing now recently it's been a little shaky uh napoleon and prometheus and alien covenant and you know films like that you're kind of like well what's going on wrinkly but you also got to look back on alien and gladiator you know and and think of all of the great films that he has given us you know even the martian which was a pretty good film um I thought that maybe we are getting this movie 10 years too late. You know, I'm not really clamoring for Gladiator 2. But nonetheless, we're getting it. Whether we want it or not, we're getting it. And here it is. This film, it kind of disappointed me. This film was not. all that good and i'm not even stacking it up against gladiator the the you know the predecessor because honestly that's not fair you know but at the same time you got to because you had the audacity to call this movie gladiator 2 and so you kind of have to and in certain moments throughout this film it's kind of beat for beat with what goes on in the first film you know same formula a guy he's defending the city he gets captured turned over into slavery becomes a gladiator and fights for his freedom same premise of the first film it's here you know and off the bat i'm not super excited for that you know i've seen that movie before literally i'm not excited for that but what drew me to this film was the act you and Rick Lee Scott and the epic scale uh the battles which Rick Lee Scott is a pro at you know going back to uh last year I believe with Napoleon Napoleon was not a good film But what was good about that movie was the battle sequences. They were amazing, phenomenal. And Wrigley Scott, whether you like his films or not, if there's a battle scene in it, he knows how to shoot them. He knows how to film a great battle scene. It is gorgeous. And this film has a few. It has some really, really good battle scenes in this movie. It kicks off with a battle scene. which was phenomenal and you know i'm like okay we're off and running let's get it you know what i'm saying this was uh what i what i was hoping to sign up for and the film kind of takes a turn and now the story in this film oh boy i i just couldn't really get on board with the story some things just didn't line up with me like i said i'm i watched the first film recently to kind of refresh my memory going into this one and it doesn't it doesn't line up uh this ain't a spoiler because it was pretty much spoiled in the marketing in the trailers and whatnot that the character the lead character who we're following here portrayed by uh paul mescal um is the son of maximus you and luci uh not lucius he he's lucius but uh uh lucilla and i'm like wait that wasn't explained in the first film that wasn't he was already around the little kid because that's who that's who is this is lucius so where that where that happened maybe i missed it and i'm gonna chalk it up to maybe i missed it that that was his son oh that was explained that that was his son because that had happened before i'm not super genius even though i play one on tv and so i probably missed it but i don't think i did but i'm gonna run with it if that's what they want to recon that and make him the son fine because in the original russell croak's character of maximus was dedicated to his wife and his uh i think he was he had a son but he was murdered you know so he loved him that was the driving force for his vengeance in that film and so for him to have an outside child was kind of i don't know it just doesn't line up logically um let's get into the performances in this film paul maskell as the protagonist in this film i didn't enjoy his i didn't enjoy his performance obviously i know i said earlier you you don't want to compare it to the first film but you kind of have to. Russell Crowe had a presence in that film. He had it. He has gravitas and not just in that film in all his films, well most of his films, but he especially in Gladiator he was amazing in that role. He was nominated for best actor you know so he he owned the screen. And it wasn't so much of his physical presence. It was more of his attitude, his demeanor, what he gave off. And it was just a performance for the ages. Paul Maskell's performance here, even though he wasn't, you know, duplicating Russell Crowe's performance. But you're supposed to have some inkling of that character. you know if he's the son of maximus here and they're making a big deal that he's the son of maximus there should have been some character traits that kind of rolled over to his character you know they tried to force feed a couple of things there but it didn't have the same effect now paul maskell he did the best he could with what he was given like i said i think he was underwritten to be honest with you all the characters were underwritten the story was underwritten. And so the failure of this movie, at least the failure to me, is the writing. And so I don't blame the actors here because there are phenomenal actors and actresses in this film. But yeah, the writing let him down. It was more, he had one gear. He just had one gear and it didn't turn. You know, Russell Crowe had many gears as Max. And, you know, it was emotional on a lot of levels. Not here. Not here, not with Lucius. And I just couldn't connect with his character. Pedro Pascal as the quote unquote villain here, he was fine, you know, he was fine. And that's about it. That's all I can really say about his character, you know, without getting into spoilers because I'll have to go into spoilers with a lot of stuff to really give an in-depth. uh opinion on some of these things but i'll just leave it at that he was fine joseph quinn who is quickly emerging as one of my favorite actors or young actors in hollywood you know coming from stranger things uh a quiet place part two or uh day one rather he was good in all of that and he he seems to get better and i'm looking forward to seeing him in a fantastic forest johnny storm next year but here I was super excited for him in his role as a young emperor, one of the brothers that was sharing. And that's actual facts in history, how they are in this film. I can't tell you because I never met him, but I liked him. I like the other brother who his name's escaping me right now. But anyways, they both were pretty decent. They weren't in it enough and didn't really give. uh they didn't give enough time to flush out that these were some villains the villains of the story or whatever and once again the screenplay or the direction here was was failing these young men in this film now who didn't fail was denzel washington denzel washington once again to be complete completely fair and honest, underwritten character. Like everybody else, they didn't discriminate. It was an underwritten character. But Denzel Washington, as professional and experienced as he is, did the best with what he had and made this movie watchable. Without Denzel Washington in this film, this is an unwatchable movie. It is almost a screaming movie without Denzel Washington. He was amazing. I loved his demeanor here. His speech patterns were kind of throwing me off because of the time period. Because him talking, he sounded like Frank Lucas from American Gangster, which ironically was directed by Ridley Scott. He sounded... like uh uh what was his name in training day but anywho he sounded like those characters you know modern but at times it kind of switched over in certain scenes it kind of switched over where he fit in it felt uh shakespearean and in moments you know when he was just chewing up the scenery in a good way he has some scenes in here that were so epic if he is announced as a nominee for best supporting actor i would be i would stand up and cheer because it was some powerful stuff that he was doing in this movie i'm telling you he saved this movie he saved this movie uh but he isn't the only good thing about it there were some other good things like i said the battle sequences here were phenomenal the the all of the fights in the coliseum What phenomenal. I loved when they flooded it. And once again, that is a fact that is historically accurate that they flooded the Coliseum for these epic little battle scenes, you know, to entertain the crowds. I thought that was excellent. And the reason I emphasize historically accurate, there are some historical accurate things in here, but it's few and far between because there are so many inaccurate. inaccuracies in dealing with the Roman Empire throughout this film that it will make you roll your eyes if you know a little bit about a little bit. I don't know everything about the Roman Empire. I don't go to sleep dreaming about it, but it is things that I do know, uh, being a history buff. And it was like, wait, that didn't go like that, but it it's fine. It's all for entertainment purposes. But those battle sequences were phenomenal. Um, the bad things about this movie or the less enjoyable things about this film as i said before uh the screenplay is the biggest standout if It was not written well. Didn't develop characters well. And this is a two and a half hour movie. You had plenty of time to develop these characters. And they didn't do them. None of them. None of them. You really didn't get a sense of where they stand or, you know, what's their motivations for doing the things that they end up doing throughout this film. One in particular is Pedro Pascal's character. I'm like. man come on i don't know what's happening here you know they're telling you but why did we get to this point and it was never explained but when you see the film you understand and the climax of this film it was a little anticlimactic i must say it it wasn't uh it didn't have that same gratification that you got at the end of gladiator and 2000. You know how satisfying it was when Russell Crowe, when Maximus defeated a Joaquin Phoenix character in that film? It was beautiful. You know, it was earned. We got to that point. You saw what Maximus went through to get to this point, to get to the main villain. You know, it was like a video game. He had to go through all those levels to get to the big final boss, and he got there and won. in sorts even though it cost him his life ultimately but he did do what he set out to do here i just it just didn't feel earned nothing felt earned it it just felt like okay let's end the movie right here let's go right now and that's what happened uh yeah it wasn't uh as satisfying as i had hoped but i will say this is a washable watchable movie it's not you know it's not god awful like oh my god this was the worst i wasted two and a half hours of my life no it's not that it's it's actually exciting throughout you know there's a lot of battle sequences in this film more than i was expecting to be honest with you and they're you know spaced out pretty well throughout the film so you won't get bored you know you're gonna stay entertained throughout in in the words of maximus from the first film oh you're not entertained yeah you you're gonna be entertained but uh story-wise not really not really there you go to this movie for two things the battles and denzel washington everything else is just laying yeah but that's my opinion on gladiator 2 oh oh also i wanted to point out and this is one of the good marks it is gory It is very gory, which it needs to be. You know, you're dealing with gladiator battles and war battles, war scenes and stuff like that. It's a lot of gore that takes place in this film. And that's a plus for me. But overall, Gladiator 2 gets a letter grade of a C+. Yeah, I thought it was all right. You know, I really wasn't expecting much. And that's what I got. Exactly what I was expecting. Not much. So that's my opinion. I would love to know yours. Are you looking forward to Gladiator 2? Have you checked out Gladiator 2? I would love to know your opinions of it. Email the show kbradiopodcast at gmail.com. You can also search for this show on all social media platforms. Just search for the KB Radio Network. Subscribe to the KB Radio Network channel on YouTube. Like this video, share this video and check out more videos. on that channel as well. Don't forget about the five stars, the reviews, and sharing this show if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, wherever you are currently listening to the concession stand. Here on the KB Radio Network. Everybody, thank you for joining me for this review of Gladiator 2. Want you all to know that I love you. Continue to love everyone. And until we speak again, you all be blessed.