I’m probably a little high on my start count for Gladiator II. There comes a time where special effects just can’t sell it. Once the audience is old and jaded enough, we need it to be character driven, especially on the home television. I’m sure it was probably stunning in a theater. I streamed Gladiator II on Paramount Plus.
Denzel Washington
I gotta admit, Denzel was awesome in this movie. Primary reason I chose to watch it was he was in it. Denzel can act!
Really can’t throw much shade at the other actors. They weren’t given a lot to work with. Disappeared into their roles well enough, but this movie was too heavy on spectacle.
Gladiator II High Points
Not so much for the movie going audience, but for the old person noticing a film breaking new ground.
Most notable and probably most ignored is Denzel Washington’s character owned gladiator slaves. He gives a Gladiator or slave being able to buy their freedom in Rome. Historians have only recently started talking about it, but peoples of every race who accumulated wealth bought freedom and slaves.
“The sickness in his loins has spread to his brain.” I may not have that quote exact, but it was uttered by the older emperor brother about his younger sibling. This is something you don’t see movies talking about. They had a problem with Syphilis in ancient Rome. The debauchery and excesses of the upper class made them prime victims of it. Everybody talks about the madness of Roman emperors but few point out the fact the causes of the insanity were Syphilis and spiking wine with lead.
Ship battle in the Coliseum with actual sharks in the water was pretty impressive even if it did jump the shark. I was too busy trying to figure out just how much work it would be to make the Coliseum “water tight enough” to float small boats. I was also thinking about just how far one would have to transport a living shark in the back of an animal drawn wagon.
Summary
If this is the first Roman gladiator type movie you’ve ever seen, it is a spectacular feast for the eyes. It tried to tie to the original and there is some great acting.
Old people who’ve seen a lot of movies aren’t wowed. We have to trudge along waiting for the too few high points of topics not covered by other movies.
For more movie rental ideas please see list one and list two.
