“Good verse travels far.”

As someone who literally NEVER thinks about the Roman Empire, this goes so hard. Not even the Ridley Scott & Denzel fanboy in me could’ve predicted this being as insanely watchable as it is. There’s always the fear of a legacy sequel standing too firmly on the shoulders of its predecessor that it no longer even resembles a movie. While some of the beats are similar, scarpa and Ridley Scott avoid that curse by just injecting some fresh life in it via all the players outside of its titular character. Macronus, acacius, the emperors, the medic and much more all make this Rome feel so much more lived in, and in the same way megalopolis does, this feels like largely a cautionary tale about the dangers that come with an empire losing the trust of its people. Opportunists lay at every corner, and none more so than Denzel’s Macronus who has the movie SQUARELY on his shoulders. From the second he’s on the screen, his comfort level just makes it painfully clear that he is the one to keep an eye on in more ways than one. He guides everything with a presence that feels almost uncannily meta, almost like he’s the literal gatekeeper of a potential game changer breaking through the threshold. This is how we get to Paul mescal. Never thought the day would come but he’s really won me over this year. The complete shift it takes to go from normal people to this in 6 years is abnormal. I hope he returns back to his smaller scale dramas with the clout this gives him (his upcoming slate promises that), but he really takes to it like a fish to water. There’s something Brando like about his weird blend of ferocity and tenderness, turned all the way up here with the physical transformation the role required. He is just far enough from Maximus & Russell Crowe to not have the comparison in my head, so I really am taken with his lost-Prince turned warrior character, even if it is a reliable trope. In a lot of ways, his turn here mirrors Chalamet’s monsterclass in dune part 2. Feels like they’ve set themselves apart from the rest of their class now(look away Josh O’Connor and Austin butler). Sound and production design is amazing, and Ridley Scott delivers on the scale that makes him the last of a dying breed in Hollywood in the 3rd act. Really embarrassing that 80 year olds like him, Scorsese and Coppola still are a cut above the new breed. Joins the last duel and Napoleon to make maybe the best 3 film run of Ridley’s career. Masterpiece.