Gladiator II

Gladiator II (2024) – It was okay. Not awful, not great. 100% worth seeing for Denzel Washington alone! You may think this is is a Paul Mescal film, or a Pedro Pascal film, or even a Ridley Scott film, but you would be wrong. This is a Denzel Washington film. He easily steals the entire movie; no one else even comes close. They let Denzel be Denzel, and he reminds us why he *IS* Denzel Washington. A true legend, and he’s clearly having a blast “chewing up the scenery” in this role.

Before we get any further, I must admit that the original Gladiator is not one of my favorite films. It’s fine, good even, but I didn’t love it. (Well, except the music. Note that Hans Zimmer did not return to score the second one, and that did not do this movie any favors.) You don’t really need to rewatch the first film before seeing this one. As long as you remember the basics, you’ll be fine. There’s even a little refresher during the opening credits.

I went into the theater for Gladiator II having practically put my expectations on the floor, especially after the disappointment that was Red One, which – again – is a perfectly okay movie, but it’s also “just okay.” This one feels similarly “just okay,” though I was already unhappy with the fact that they were even making another one, so I wasn’t very hopeful for it. In that respect, it was oddly better than anticipated (only because my expectations were so low to start with). But, as my husband said afterwards, it felt like the story was rushed but the film was too long/slow. That is definitely not a good combination. It felt much more like they had “things they wanted to do” rather than a story to tell. (Sorry, I can’t really give examples without spoilers.) Bits and pieces of it were good, great even, but on the whole, it was pretty meh, except for Mr. Washington, who was outstanding. I can’t even particularly recommend seeing it in the theater. Denzel will be fine on the small screen, and even the big battle scenes just weren’t very exciting; epic in scope, yes, but not very thrilling. I think that largely sums up my opinion of the film, too.

P.S. I just checked my RingConn stats for this afternoon. It thinks I was asleep from 4:22 to 7:15. We watched the 4:20 Gladiator II, and the movie is 2 hours and 28 minutes, not counting the 20 minutes (minimum) of previews and commercials. I’ve seen at least 4 other movies since I got my RingConn, including one movie that was even longer than this one, and it never mistook me for sleeping during any of them. Make of that what you will.