Gladiator is awesome. You feel entwined with Harris' Marcus Aurelius' dream, Crowe's Maximus powerful and emotional odyssey, the Colosseum panem et circenses explicit violence (with a subtler political play), Rome's demise... and then some more: Phoenix's Commodus plotting and toying, Reed's growing and glowing empathy, Lucilla's tragedy... my point is, even if you knew this was a 100% Hollywood production, you felt with it, with every turn and punch to the stomach. It felt alive and whimsical, moreso with Zimmer's perfect score (he was at his prime imo)
Gladiator II felt like the same but without all of the above. Like Schrodinger's Scott. You can see him but you can't feel him. Such a shame.
The first one was great, especially for its time. Russel's accent comes through a bit much at times, but it was a decent movie.
This new one... hmm. I can't tell at which point he was supposed to have made all of these other gladiators blindly follow him. There was no build up, but then he's kind of just respected by everyone. He's even liked from the get-go. Surely he needed to do more than win a couple of fights. And the spectacle with the sharks... dear lord.
Perhaps its because of shows like Spartacus, where it takes many episodes and many trials for his peers to respect him. That feels more natural. I know there are only so many hours in a movie, but Russel pulled it off well in Gladiator.
I don't think the main guy (can't even remember his name, he was so forgettable) commands much respect in this new one, he doesn't have the same presence as Russel did.
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