Gladiator II: An Uninspired, Boring Slog


It's not a good sign when a rhino is the character you empathize most with in a movie (and white rhinos are one of my favorite animals). This is Gladiator II though. A film that encapsulates everything wrong with modern Hollywood. The movie was a waste of time, so I'll be mindful of your time with this review.

Gladiator II is beat-for-beat quite similar to Gladiator. The problem is that Gladiator II doesn't understand what made the original so great. Repeating lines verbatim, having similar shots and showing footage from the previous installment doesn't make the new installment a worthy successor. Gladiator II has poor acting, bad CGI (Wicked with a smaller budget looks much better), terrible editing and horrendous pacing. Some characters could have been interesting like General Acacius (Pedro Pascal), Emperor Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Emperor Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). I also have questions. Why is Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) always walking around in secret? Is this the worst performance of Denzel Washington's career? Why didn't the rhino get more screen time?

To wrap this up, Gladiator II is a hollow shell of a film. Ridley Scott, a director who has made some truly fantastic movies, needs to retire. Gladiator II couldn't even make the gladiatorial fights good. The arena comes across as an afterthought. The opening battle scene is alright, but this movie isn't worth your time or money. Gladiator II will be forgotten, unlike Gladiator. If you're looking for something to do, just go to your local zoo and see the rhinos instead of watching Gladiator II.

Rating:

Red Light - Just watch Gladiator again even if you've done so a hundred times.


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