heisenberg12

Gladiator 2 is far better than it needed to be.

What's great:

1. Acting- far better than expected, Mescal, Nielson, Pascal all deliver outstanding acting performances, far better than expected. In fact, while the majority of reviews rightfully praise Washington, and in the first act he does steal the show, by the time the credits roll, the other three leads have matched his level. 9/10

2. Cinematography- absolutely top notch, without a doubt. 10/10

3. Set Pieces- perfectly immersive and beautiful. You are there. You are in Rome and on the ground of the Coliseum. 10/10

4. Directing- masterful, almost perfect, and it is the glue that holds it all together. 9/10

5. Editing- Any movie that glues you to the screen where you feel like you can't blink or miss one second of it because you are so into it, automatically did its job and deserves a 10/10.

Good:

1. Script/Story- The script and story is actually a tribute to the original, creates satisfying and very emotional nostalgia, and is more intricate than the original. There is much more depth than many mixed reviews are parroting, as they must be looking at it wrong. 8/10

2. Battles/Fights- This should probably be in the "great" category, but as a whole there are just so many of them (about 10 total) that some are better than others so I averaged them out. 8.5/10

About the only negative about it is that it could have used a little more fleshing out of the main character in the beginning since it dives right into the fast-moving story, and it might take a little while for Mescal's acting to grow on you (since he is filling big shoes with Crowe's Best Actor Oscar winning performance), but he will, and they gradually do flesh out his character as the story unfolds. By the third act, I was definitely buying it, which was a unique experience, tbh. It's like his acting improved as the story went on.

Great flick!

9/10.

This is a desperately overrated film. It's an interesting watch, for sure, but as a whole it falls flat. While the director utilizes artistry for the story, ultimately the plot holes are undeniable, and worst of all, the ending is just ridiculous to the point where everything good that they were selling for the first hour about it devolves into a mess of a movie.

Have you ever heard of the term 'reaching'? That is what the people praising this are doing. They are reaching because in the first hour of the film, the movie showed promise, and they are ignoring everything that came after, which is plot holes galore.

Also, spiritually, it is a negative movie experience. The energy is negative and pointless by the end. There are no moral lessons here of which should have been if they stuck with the depth and substance of the first hour of a woman trying to regain her youth. Instead, it just devolves into a vapid gore fest in the third act that is just meant to stir up publicity and cause shock.

The first hour was pretty decent, but if this is what passes as a "good movie" or a "classic" these days as many reviews are trying to push, then we are in trouble. It has those very few elements at times of a masterpiece like many movies that try to push boundaries do, but ultimately it's a bad movie that doesn't even come close to a Wes Craven Scream film, and those aren't even masterpieces.

We need to cut down the hyperbole these days. Being different is not enough to be a masterpiece, and I feel bad for people who think this is anything great. They must have only seen twenty films in their lifetimes.

I actually enjoyed Part I more than this. One hour in, I had to check the time. There's only so much time that can be spent on explaining that Charlamee is the savior.

The bright spot was definitely Javier Bardem, great performance for an otherwise banal cast of actors. Don't get me wrong, the visuals were outstanding, and the story had its moments, but overall it was frankly boring.

This was a big disappointment because it got off to a really good start and in the first hour, the editing and immersion was on point. But once they entered Austin Butler's character, it fell apart.

Cringeworthy character development and cliched storytelling at its finest, but I'm sure younger people and newbie sci-fi fans will love it. This is no masterpiece, not even close. Part I was actually better overall.

4/10.