There was one word that I could not stop from swimming around my brain while I watched this at a packed cinema screening - contrived.

To be fair to Ridley Scott, he's probably been thinking about this sequel for the best part of 25 years and when also considering the cultural impact of it's predecessor, it was always going to be an uphill struggle for Gladiator II to come across in any sort of natural light but does that justify how mediocre this follow up really is?

The biggest curiosity for myself (and I imagine a lot of the audience) was how any sequel would hold up sans Mr. Crowe and the plot thickened for me when Paul Mescal was announced as the lead. As a fellow Irishman, it's been great to see Mescal making waves across the film industry over the last few years and I was really rooting for him to succeed in this but I can't help feeling that he's been completely hung out to dry by Ridley here. At times it was like watching a child stumble around the kitchen in his father's work-boots. There are some intimate moments (particlarly when Hanno is as high as a kite) where Mescal's talent glimmers but those are few and far between and post the death of his wife, there are very little obstacles for him to overcome on his course to becoming the Roman Empire's greatest 'nepo-baby'. Mescal's weapon of choice largely being the ability to recite poetry and dish out the silent treatment at will. Standing alongside Washington, it was painful to see the levels of difference between both actors and Denzel will rightfully be the performance that people will be left talking about. (I won't waste time discussing Pedro Pascal's role as this was nothing more than a plot device and could have been played by anyone)

On a more positive note, Scott delivers a visually striking film with some epic shots and attention to the craft of filmmaking that is often neglected in contemporary cinema. However, that should be a given when considering what Scott has delivered throughout the decades and while I try not to take a director of his calibre for granted, it certainly doesn't make up for this film's failures in other departments, such as the overall story and weak thematic elements.

This will go down well with a lot of the 'weekend warriors' who ventured out of there armchair to catch this but for anyone hoping to find something new to appreciate, this will be a dissappointing affair.