Donnie’s review published on Letterboxd:
Making a sequel to an acclaimed film more than twenty years after the original is more often than not a waste of money, time and talent. But I'm happy to say that Ridley Scott delivered a great follow up to Gladiator.
A star studded cast led by the young Paul Mescal who's story was a nice continuation of the original. Denzel Washington, the man oozing with charisma stole the show here. I really liked his scheming character. It's always nice to see Pedro Pascal on screen, although I hoped to see more from his character. The diabolical and unhinged twin emperors were great, but as with Pedro Pascal's character, I feel like there needs to be thirty somewhat more minutes somewhere that didn't make this cut, but hopefully will be on a blu-ray director's cut someday.
I just love epic films on a grand scale, especially about the Roman empire. The extensive violence and loss of life in a meaningless war in the opening sequence was superb. As were the colosseum fights. Although they could've done more with the ship battle and sharks, which in itself was a little over the top, but nonetheless very entertaining, no pun intended.
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