the gates of hell are open night and day; smooth the descent, and easy is the way: but to come back from hell and view the cheerful skies, in this the task and mighty labor lies.

putting my fingers in my ears and screaming LA LA LA LA because i loved this film so much and was thoroughly entertained throughout the whole thing. throat-ripping baboons, bloody rhinos, sharks in the colosseum, naval battles on a scope i hadn’t yet seen until now- gladiator 2 honestly met my expectations. 

this movie is insane. part of me thought i wouldn’t like it more than the first and yet here i sit, hunched over and furiously typing out my review for this film with the fiery passion of the sun. the visuals were fantastic. pedro pascal was magnifique. denzel washington quite literally ran circles around every other actor in this in terms of acting ability. i also liked the dialogue, clunky as it was at times. the bloodshed, while not typically my cup of tea, was done quite well, too, with it’s sudden brutality being gasp-inducing every so often. ridley scott regained the sauce a little bit, redeemed himself cinematically, even. 

unfortunately gladiator 2 is rather hindered by a small handful of issues, from pedro pascal’s lack of screentime to the poor pacing of caracalla’s madness. i was also extremely disappointed by the noticeable lack of may calamawy, who we were led to believe would be a key player within the story. paul mescal’s performance wasn’t bad by any means as well, but following the footsteps of russell crowe are difficult sandals to fill. i also thought lucius’ motivation being the death of his wife (who he had no chemistry with) wasn’t very well-done, and i think the idea of him spending the majority of his life running from the roman empire and that becoming most of what he knows was much more compelling. other than that, though, there’s not much else i have a problem with. 

i completely neglected to mention the score, which is a beautiful homage to hans zimmer’s music for the first gladiator while also managing to maintain originality. i was stunned by it, in all honesty. i’ve always loved harry gregson-williams, and his work on the chronicles of narnia series, as well as shrek, fundamentally shaped my music-loving, film score obsessed brain to the way it is today. 

gladiator 2 isn’t the best movie of all time by any means, not even the best of the year, but god, i’d be lying if i said it wasn’t worth watching. i am begging you all to watch this in theaters. it’s a beautiful, magnificent and epic theater experience, and by far one of the best i’ve had all year. STRENGTH AND HONOR!