Gladiator II

" Almost as good as the original until it gets a bit goofy towards the end."

"I really liked this film! As someone who really disliked the first film, this was a massive improvement for me. A very solid follow up that continues the story of Lucius (the young boy from the first film) who ends up following a similar path to Maximus in terms of becoming a gladiator. Phenomenal costume and production design paired with improved cinematography and VFX (2 aspects I intensely disliked from the first film). Paul Mescal does a decent job as the grown up Lucius, while Denzel Washington is easily the film’s MVP (chews the scenery with glimmers of TRAINING DAY present) followed closely by Connie Nielsen (who serves as the film’s heart) (both of them deserve to be nominated for this IMO). Ridley Scott also deserves praise for his stamina and making a film of such an epic scale at age 86. Worth a watch. Fun fact: If Denzel Washington gets nominated, it’ll be his 10th acting Oscar nomination, tying him with Sir Laurence Olivier as the 2nd most nominated male actor ever and putting him only behind 12-time nominee Jack Nicholson. Would be cool to see him join their ranks."

"Review: Boring next-generation reboot with a powerful last scene. While the two emporers played devious well, Denzel was grossly miscast imo. Still love him."

"Gladiator II was just fine, not good, not bad, but just fine. There were things i loved and elements that took me out of the movie. The cinematography was spectacular, especially when it came to the action sequences. The cast was solid, but Denzel Washington stole the show. My biggest gripes were the writing and the pacing of the movie. I felt they tried to recapture the greatness of the first film and ended up falling flat. Also, the story was stretched too thin, and the dialogue fell flat in the 3rd act. The 2 and 1/2 hr run time in this movie felt longer than in the original. Overall, this sequel had some really big shoes to fill, and in the end, I felt only one shoe was filled, while the other shoe wasn't. "

"i’m providing a spit-jar for the amount of spit the characters spat through this movie. it’s good tho. "

"65/100 Not great... The action was the only decent thing. The acting helped me see how masterful the original cast really was. And the dialog was weird "

"Pretty good, but my eyes were closed half the movie. Very gory and a lot of fighting. Boyfriend loved it."

" Main actor was awesome and movie was good, but I do think that Denzel didn’t do his best. Huge Denzel fan and maybe this movie just wasn’t right for him"

"In my opinion, this movie will be the "G.O.A.T" of cinema. I knew based on the trailers, the lead protagonist was going to be a beast"