48/24
Musician Nick Cave was invited to draft a version by Russell Crowe and Sir Ridley Scott
Chronology
After his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum and must look to his past to find strength to return the glory of Rome to its people.. In the years following the release of the first film, there were numerous attempts to write a sequel. His version focused on the more mythical elements of Ancient Rome, and would have seen Maximus arrive in the afterlife, only to be faced with other souls who are yet to ascend further.
The studio decided not to go through with this version, but the script is available to read online
He is eventually tasked by Jupiter and other Roman deities to return to earth to find and kill Hephaestus, a former deity who has betrayed them. From there, he is resurrected as a Christian and finds himself journeying back to Rome, on a mission to stop Christianity from spreading, while crossing paths with the new Emperor, Lucius. The movie would have ended with Maximus being cursed to live for an eternity, featuring a montage of the soldier battling through the Crusades, World War II, and the Vietnam War, eventually revealing a modern-day Maximus working at the Pentagon in Washington.
Emperor Geta: The gods have SPOKEN!
Featured in The 7PM Project: Episode dated 3 July 2024 (2024). I was lucky to sit through an early screening here in NYC, so let's start with the obvious.Gladiator 2 has superb CGI & practical effects. You will, at times, feel as though you are in Rome.
Without divulging the plot, he excels in one-on-one scenes and compliments his screen partners well
Denzel excels in his role and is a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination, and the blood & gore is highly entertaining. What's not to like about a Roman gladiator lopping off a head in THEE Colosseum?Now, the drawbacks.Paul Mezcal, a phenomenal actor, fell short of what I wanted from him in the film. However, he could have done better in group settings where he was supposed to be the catalyst of the scene.
However, at no point was there a desire to follow him
As a "leader" throughout the film, inciting the rumblings of a rebellion, uprising, etc., we expect a draw from him. This may be a nitpick but when the one character im supposed to be enraptured with doesn't make me want to charge into the fray it falls short of its target.The story is better than average but could be better. It complements the bones of the original film and provides some fan service, but it is in no way a standalone marvel compared to its predecessor.The music score was solid, but they could have taken some notes from Dune Part 2 on how to give an audience goosebumps during its most pivotal scenes.All in all, it's a good counterpart to the original Gladiator, one of the better films of 2024, and will receive some Oscar buzz, but it falls short of what it could have been, which is a masterpiece.
