Posted on 07/09/2024 7:05:40 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The trailer for Ridley Scott’s new epic, Gladiator II, is undeniably impressive, but then it rather had to be. Rumors that its already massive budget had ballooned to as much as $310 million — which would mean it would have to be one of 2024’s highest-grossing movies just to break even, never mind making a profit — may have suggested that the film was in trouble, but an early screening of the preview at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas reassured exhibitors and studios alike, with the few journalists who had seen the footage rushing to extol its scale and grandeur. Now it’s been released online, and viewers have a chance to judge for themselves. (Its cinematic debut will come with Deadpool vs Wolverine.) Does it look like a worthy follow-up to Gladiator?
To be frank, it would be nigh-on impossible to compete with the original, but that is because the success of the Oscar-winning behemoth is a more subtle and complex thing than it was given credit for. Its central revenge storyline was something out of Death Wish — man trained in the violent arts has wife and child killed; man gives into violent impulses; everyone who gets in his way suffers — but it was elevated to artistic respectability by its peerless technical accomplishment, a script that neatly balanced profundity and quotability and performances by veteran British actors like Richard Harris, Derek Jacobi and Oliver Reed, who could give gravitas to General Hospital. And, of course, it boasted an award-winning performance at its center by Russell Crowe as a terrifying instrument of vengeance, who hacked, slashed and decapitated his way through the picture as he sought revenge on Joaquin Phoenix’s sniveling, incestuous-intended emperor Commodus.
Crowe will, of course, not be returning for the Gladiator sequel, on account of his character Maximus dying heroically at the conclusion of the first one, his job done. Yet judging by this preview, his influence will be keenly felt throughout, whether it’s Paul Mescal’s Lucius (apparently his son, although this has not yet been publicly revealed) gazing awestruck at the legendary general-turned-gladiator’s armor, or the massed ranks of fighters declaring “Strength and honor,” the original’s catchphrase, as they prepare to face their adversaries. And there are countless other callbacks to the first film, too, from Lucius’s double-sword decapitation technique to the reappearance of Connie Nielsen as Lucilla, Maximus’s former lover and Lucius’s mother.
It all looks vastly expensive, with sea battles and scenes of siege warfare that may feature CGI embellishment but also have thousands of extras and a reassuring amount of bloody peril right up on the screen. Mescal, who is a critical favorite after his roles in Normal People and All Of Us Strangers but has yet to make his blockbuster debut, may not quite be measuring up to Crowe for sheer force of charisma on this evidence, but the always-welcome presence of Denzel Washington as a mysterious powerbroker who seems intent on seizing power from the corrupt but effete emperors indicates that the sub-I, Claudius politicking that made the first film such a pleasure to watch will be returning here, with a vengeance.
There will be an awful lot riding on this picture’s success. The beleaguered Paramount Pictures desperately needs a hit, and for the film to make serious money, it needs to bank Oppenheimer-level amounts. And there is something of a question mark over the now-eighty-six-year-old Scott, too, who appears in recent years to have gone for broke in emphasizing the comic aspects of everything from Napoleon’s conquest of Europe to the murder of Maurizio Gucci by his wife Patrizia. Few would relish the prospect of Gladiator II being turned into the British sitcom Up, Pompeii. But judged on the evidence of this fiery, propulsive trailer — and I haven’t even mentioned Pedro Pascal as Mescal’s nemesis, offering two muscled gladiators for the price of one — then Crowe’s outraged bellow from the first film of “Are you not entertained?” will find an enthusiastic response in the affirmative from audiences worldwide in a few months’ time. Strength and honor, indeed.
Every street corner in Rome had a Taco Bell, so the historians say.
There were lots of Spaniards. And many Chileans are descendants of Spaniards.
CC
RE: I like Denzel but it’s a myth that Hannibal was black.
Hannibal was born in what is present-day northern Tunisia. Hannibal was a member of the Carthaginian civilization, one of many Mediterranean regions colonised by the Canaanites from their homelands in Phoenicia, a region corresponding with the Mediterranean coasts of modern Lebanon and Syria.
The Carthaginians were a mix of Phoenician, Berber, and other Mediterranean peoples. So, Hannibal’s race can be described as Carthaginian or Punic, with a diverse Mediterranean ancestry.
It’s hard to imagine how Hannibal would have looked like. Dark skin is a possibility but a lighter skin is also possible.
He isn’t playing Hannibal, he is playing a very wealthy Roman Merchant.
That’s very true. The Roman gladius, the main weapon of the Roman legions for many years was a Spanish short sword.
Of course there were Spaniards, but not Mestizos, which Pedro certainly is.
“Put a chick in it, make it lame and gay!”
Oh, wait that has failed every time Disney has tried it.
But they’re going try it anyway(See “Ride if the Rohirrim”)
“Do you eat oysters....!”
Studios wrecked their movie system.
DEI BS from Ridley Scott. He has lost it.
Only seen peices of the origninal. Did not get me to watch the whole thing.
That guy with all the mascara really bothered me.
when even Gladiator goes woke, you know Western Civ. is in trouble.
Gladiator II - Electric Bugaloo
I agree, Lisa Gerrard, from Dead Can Dance was on the soundtrack, singing an idioglossia or made up language. I believe she was on the soundtrack to Layer Cake too.
I’ll watch it after I’m certain it has no wokeness or other propaganda. Otherwise, my time is best spent reloading.
still waiting for Titanic 2: Jack’s back
Lets just be happy that if they had to have a black guy in it, it was Denzel.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.