producers: how many hot actors do you want?
ridley scott: yes

an arena full of hot men, who cares about the historical inaccuracies? not me. i had no interest in seeing gladiator ii (yes, the original, as far as I recall, was stunning) but once I realised that a bunch of handsome actors (+ Connie Nielsen🧎🏼‍♀️) would be in it, how could I not watch it? at first, I thought this film would surely flop and flop hard and ugly 1) it has been 20+ years since the original 2) scott ridley can't do historical films (let's not forget the Napoleon fiasco) because he loves inaccuracies 3) the story was compelling at one specific point in time but would it again? 4) having a great cast doesn't automatically mean the film will be good. that being said, it was quite a surprise. many will say that the reason this was moderately tolerable is because of the amazing cast, and they're 100% right. I came to see this for the hot men fighting and that only, although I must say the finished product apart from the actors was actually good, probably not on the same level as the original (Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix truly changed the game) but close.

gladiator ii couldn't have been released at a better time, potentially too uncanny with our reality – the fascim is wrong because these dictators that insatiably seek power and only that to whatever extent and rule without being good at it or having any experience at it other than money are not the ones that should rule. sounds familiar, right??? the film clearly tries to get the message out by telling the viewer to discard them without looking back. not only that but the heroes try to replace them in a justly way - replace that corrupt mentally with democracy (so!!!! important!!!!!! and relevant!!! *cough cough* d*n*ld tr*mp and inc.) and has a nice nod to immigrants (equal opportunities for everyone regardless of their upbringing and past for that matter. rich and poor should have the same rights - in fact, there shouldn't be rich or super powerful people, everyone should have equal means (an utopia), but unfortunately that's asking too much, so democracy is the best we have at the time being). Ridley scott actually ate with that one but failed because the bechdel test did not pass, it's 2024 and we're still making the same mistakes.

the film itself worked wonderfully despite all that could've gone wrong. I'm not sure if it will have the same impact or even a lasting effect that the original gladiator has had (probably not), but considering how bland most sequels are (most times), it definitely has a shot at being remembered. in spite of being almost three hours long, the film is excellently paced - feels shorter than it actually is, probably even more than the original film. never a dull moment. the action, as suspected, is superb. has the right amount of entertaining moments and disturbing ones, also it knows how to balance out the seriousness of it all whilst being grandiose. the cinematography was so beautiful, dazzling, majestic – a captivating experience (I'm not the biggest action film enthusiast and at the end I was completely marvelled, stunned even). the music score and music design were both amazing.

the performances were all on the same level, staggering performances by Pedro Pascal (in terms of acting in general but mostly during the fight scenes and the most emotional ones), Paul Mescal (brilliant BRILLIANT and heartfelt performance and an even more amazing work regarding the fight scenes and his rage towards the corrupts), Denzel Washington (a master!!!!! that's all i can say and so hot), Connie Nielsen and Fred Hechinger – amazing too. every single actor was perfect, but the one that stood the most was Joseph Quinn, he stole the spotlight every single time – his unhingedness was perfect, i hope he never changes. a performance of a lifetime. I literally lost my head at some point🤭🤭🤭. my sole complaints are how slightly underdeveloped Paul Mescal's character was (he did a great, stunning work but the writing failed him. he looked gorgeous and sexy and sweaty<3). the film itself was slightly different from the original, the tone was less serious, I'm not even sure how to explain it but more brutal – the gore was maddening. the most irritating thing was that the end, it felt too abrupt. i blinked and it was over.