Patrick D’s review published on Letterboxd:
Popcorn spectacle done right…mostly. The sharks were a terrible idea. Pedro Pascal’s performance was a dud, but he wasn’t given much to work with. Connie Nielsen: also not great here.
Denzel however…Denzel dazzles! The movie doesn’t really get going until he shows up, and his character has more tricks up his sleeve than I expected. Paul Mescal begins competently and ends convincingly. I enjoyed his performance. Like other characters though, his arc is replete with question marks. None bigger than his eventual acceptance of his mother’s decision to send him away as a child. One second he’s furious with her, and the next he’s committing his mission to her protection. The path between those points is very murky, and, like the CGI sharks, it took me out of the action.
Ultimately, I went to see Gladiator II for epic fight sequences and spicy political machinations. In that regard, Ridley Scott delivers, even if the ceiling for this movie feels significantly higher.
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