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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Werewillie Oleson" data-source="post: 418083" data-attributes="member: 8">Gladiator II (2024)[ATTACH=full]55489[/ATTACH]I really liked the original Gladiator when I saw it in the early 2000s (it may have been a VHS rental, before everything changed to DVD) but on a recent rewatch I was put off by the emotionally-manipulative schmaltz and the simplistic black-and-white situation.But I know there are a lot of people who (still) love it, and it's not unusual to feel protective of our favourite films or music especially when it comes to sequels and remakes.Because I don't belong to that Gladiator fanclub, watching this sequel should give me the advantage to enjoy it for what it is rather than hating it for what it isn't i.e. the original.And yet the reason I watched it is because I wanted to see for myself just how bad it really is - a morbid curiosity, as it were.Gladiator didn't need a sequel in 2002 or 2005, but this one actually follows the story's timeline in real time, 25 years later, which, at least, makes it a little bit more deserving of getting a sequel. Furthermore, it's a continuation that actually makes sense because it's about Lucilla's song Lucius, a character that exists in the original rather than a new one haphazardly retconned into the story.Gladiator certainly didn't need the remake that Russell Crowe himself wanted: the return of Maximus. So much for "respecting" the original.So anyway, while I was watching this sequel I wondered when the bad stuff (that what makes so many people hate this film) would start to happen, because all I saw was a gloriously over-the-top and eye-popping Ancient Rome spectacle for the modern ages.[ATTACH=full]55490[/ATTACH]Monster-monkeys, rhinos....sharks!! I seriously wish Ridley Scott had had the audacity to combine it with the Mount Vesuvius disaster...and why stop there? Bring on the UFO!I also don't understand how this film can be seen as a rehash of the original because it's much more a Rome story than a one man's journey.Characters including Lucius himself are far more political driven which gives the film an epic feel that's different from the first one, although I admit that it lacks the emotional punch of the original (albeit too emotional for my taste).At the same time I appreciate that it pays some homage to the original without milking it for all it's worth. It was exactly enough to make the connection work.It's funny that another renowned filmmaker brought Rome to New York in 2024 while Gladiator II brings New York to Rome especially in the character played by Denzel Washington, a fabulous, cape-flapping Disney villain.His vision that ancestry is irrelevant and that everyone can make it to the top seems very much like the archetypal Nouveau Rich American attitude (or at least the way it used to be).In essence, I support that vision, but it all depends on what we're willing to sacrifice and also how much of that success we like to share with other people.Oh, and there's even funny "graffiti" on the walls.This, and The Apprentice, are now my favourite films of 2024, but I hope there will be more. I've already decided to support Nosferatu because I saw an interview between Robert Eggers and Willem Dafoe and it's super-cool.Apparently, the nudity warning now also applies to bare arms.</blockquote>

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