“What we do in life echoes in eternity”

An epic that delivers on what we’d woulda wanted from a follow up to one of the best films released almost a quarter of a century ago. While it isn’t anywhere near as great as the first one, this triumphs in being a rock solid continuation of this world.

God tier performances and action sequences are what really make this worth while. Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington are just THEM, like holy shit they chew up the goddamn scenery like there’s no tomorrow, Washington especially. Everyone else is amazing as well but those two are the biggest hitters for some of the best performances I’ve seen this year and they deserve a nomination each. Each action sequence is more chaotic and ferocious than the last, building up to bombasticness that makes it wild to believe someone like Ridley, a man who’s well into his 80s, has the capability to bring onto the screen. With how controversially received many of his recent works have been, you can tell Scott poured his all into this. He made this in a way that can finally shut everyone up, and honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if it does shut his naysayers up because he just did a fantastic job. It’s not often you can revisit something you’ve done, something that may have been long in the past in terms of where you’re at now, and have it tick nearly as well and yet he managed to nail it. 

With many legacy sequels, they either follow what came before by being a nostalgia fest or deconstructing the past (think Force Awakens and Last Jedi) and while I very much prefer the latter, this one has a healthy dosage of both. It delivers on what you would have loved from the original in its epicness whilst thematically challenging the first one in its core about the dream of what Rome can be. 

With that said, with all the performances, set pieces and themes keeping me entertained, I do wish this film had ironed out its story and characters just a bit more. Ridley said this was his Final Cut but you can really tell that stuff has been cut out and it’s very apparent when you read about what HAS been ommited, namely scenes with Denzel Washington’s character being openly gay (which tbf is heavily implied in the movie) as well as a subplot involving May Calmawy (she’s only really a background character in a handful of scenes, despite news of her being a major side character. Normally I wouldn’t mind this but with her being Egyptian-Palestinian and with everything going on in the industry when it comes to silencing Palestinian voices, it’s a really shitty look and I hope there is more clarification on this matter). This film’s pacing and editing is very frantic and with so many characters, it can feel rushed and unevenly balanced. While it does make the film engaging it does kinda hinder the chance for us to digest things from an emotional standpoint which is something the first one excelled at. All that said, what we got was enough to keep my satisfied.

Don’t really a whole lot to say other than it is just a rock solid sequel to one of the best films ever. It can be uneven and could use some more fleshing out from a story and character standpoint but the performances, action, visuals, thematic through line and just the utterly immaculate scope are what make this for me. Ridley Scott does it again!